


You Shine So Brightly

by yayhwan



Category: GOT7
Genre: 2jae starts in the later chapters, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Angst, Awkward Flirting, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Nightmares, Pining, but it definitely is 2jae by now, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-07-26 07:36:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 31,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7565662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yayhwan/pseuds/yayhwan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mark works in a coffee shop at Incheon Airport. One fateful day he meets a customer who grabs his attention. More so, the stranger bursts into his life like the sun.<br/>From that moment on Mark is a quiet spectator in Jinyoung's life. But when will he gather the courage to actually start up a conversation with the man? Or will Jinyoung have to initiate a conversation instead?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One, Two, Strike!

“Hyung?”

Mark Tuan is sitting at the table, staring down at his breakfast. He barely slept last night. How is he supposed to function at work today?

Youngjae raises his voice a little: “Mark-hyung?”

Why hasn’t he been able to sleep, though? Usually after he plays with his phone for a couple of hours, he can sleep just fine. Why hasn’t he slept properly? 

“Mark!” Youngjae has to almost scream into his ear to get his attention.

He jerks up, looking at his flatmate. “What?” He asks.

“If you keep staring at your breakfast, you’re going to be late for work.” Mark is kindly informed.

Normally Mark is a really big eater, but right now his breakfast is still untouched.

“Here, eat this.” Youngjae suggests, handing him a banana.

Mark peels the banana and removes a browned piece of banana, handing it to Youngjae before eating the remainder of the fruit himself. Once he finishes, he stands up to clean the table, but Youngjae stops him.

“I’ll take care of this. You have to get to work.”

Really, Youngjae is far too good to him at times like these. “Thanks,” Mark says as he grabs his coat and slips into his shoes. Coco is waiting by the door, eager to go out for a walk, but Mark just hugs her before he leaves.

He arrives at the airport and walks straight to the coffee shop where he works. He puts on his apron and pins on his name tag. He checks his appearance in the mirror once before getting to work. Honestly, it won’t surprise him if people think he’s coming down with a cold. He looks exhausted.

Mark works during the day most of the time, but sometimes he takes on night shifts when his boss wants him to. Today, luckily, he gets off at 6. And he works alone, because it’s a weekday and so it won’t be as crowded at the airport. Or at least, that’s Mark’s hope. Otherwise he might have to call one of his colleagues to help him out. He hates phone calls.

The morning is quiet, which gives Mark time to do something other than make coffee or other drinks continuously. He quietly tidies his work space while watching the dozens of strangers walk by. 

There’s an elderly man sitting on a bench in front of the shop, going through his bag as though he forgot whether he had everything he needed. 

It’s mostly business people at the airport, which means he gets the occasional customer who’ll want an Americano or something similar. The double espressos are generally popular early in the morning, because people feel the need to wake up with an intense coffee boost.

Two students, considerably younger than Mark, come into the shop. At the sight of him, they whisper to each other nervously and giggle. Mark keeps himself from rolling his eyes and instead smiles to them politely. “Welcome! Can I help you?”

“One caramel hot chocolate and a raspberry smoothie please.” One of them manages to giggle.

He writes their names on the cups and makes their drinks. They end up buying two cupcakes as well and Mark wishes them a nice day as they leave.

Around noon, the shop gets a little crowded and Mark works hard to ensure that the queue isn’t too long. There’s a nice hum of voices in the shop. People take their time to enjoy their drinks, but Mark isn’t able to enjoy lunchtime much. He has to continuously work to ensure that no customer leaves the shop unsatisfied.

Even though it isn’t summer, Mark feels very warm as he works. Mostly because he makes warm drinks and the machines around him radiate heat as well. And with him working alone, he has to alternate between making drinks, cleaning tables and other chores. 

It seems as though no time has passed, but suddenly it’s 4 pm and Mark finally has some time to breathe. He gets himself a chocolate drink and a sandwich and takes a seat in the shop, hoping that no one would come by for a few minutes.

Only now does he realise how tired he is. Maybe he should’ve gotten coffee. Mark sips from his drink and doesn’t regret his choice of beverage any more. 

“Oh, choco.” He sighs, a tired smile curling up his lips.

“Am I interrupting something?” Someone asks.

Mark looks up to find an attractive man standing at the entrance of the shop. He has dark hair, neatly parted to the side. There’s one earphone in his right ear, while the other dangles uselessly in front of his chest. The man’s wearing a black button down and washed jeans. He hold a black leather bag casually in his right hand and pushes his phone in his jeans pocket as he takes a hesitant step forward.

“I can come back later, if you want?” The man frowns. His voice is smooth and he sounds genuinely concerned about interrupting Mark’s late lunch.

“No, it’s—it’s alright.” Mark stammers awkwardly. He gets up and gathers his things, taking it behind the counter and smiling at the new customer. “What can I get you?”

“An iced Americano, please.”

Mark really likes his voice. He completely forgets to asks the customer’s name and instead just makes the coffee.

“Thank you.” The man says once he paid. He accepts the coffee and turns around to leave.

“Have a nice day!” Mark calls after him.

He turns around and smiles – Mark likes the way his eyes crinkle. “You too.”

***

His shift ends at six, but it takes him at least another half hour to clean up and close up the shop. Mark likes the responsibility that he’s gotten after working at the coffee shop for a few months. Sometimes he regrets coming to Korea to study and work, but today wasn’t half bad.

On his way home, he buys takeaway. Mark knows that Youngjae probably hasn’t prepared dinner. They usually didn’t. Both of them aren’t very good at cooking. Takeaway is easier.

Youngjae embraces him in thanks when he sees the pizza Mark brought with him.

“Hyung, you’re the best!” He says, digging in without another word.

They settle on the sofa and watch a movie. It doesn’t take long for the pizza boxes to be empty and their stomachs to be full. By now, Youngjae knows not to expect a lot of small talk from Mark, even though he’s opened up considerably since they first met. His Korean’s gotten a lot better as well.

“How was work?”

“It was fine.” Mark mumbles.

“Any interesting customers?” Youngjae asks, because sometimes Mark comes home with funny stories.

“There were two girls who seemed overwhelmed by my good looks.” He chuckles, shaking his head. He didn’t even think he was that good-looking, but he’d been told quite often that people really liked his appearance.

Mark grins at the thought of the handsome customer that had interrupted his lunch. “And I think I might’ve had a model as a customer?”

“What do you mean?” Youngjae asks, his eyes shifting from the television screen to Mark.

“One guy came in and he was insanely good-looking. Like, unrealistically so.” He explains and Youngjae laughs.

“Do you remember his name?”

Mark frowns a little before he shakes his head: “No, I don’t think I even asked.”

The rest of their evening is calm and eventless. Mark walks Coco once more and then Youngjae and Mark head to bed. Youngjae has to get up early for work the next morning. Mark doesn’t really feel sleepy yet, but he gets ready anyway.

Soon enough, it’s about 3:30 am and Mark is still staring at his ceiling. He doesn’t know what to do. He should be sleeping by now. Maybe he could see if he could find the name of the model he’d served today…

Mark pulls out his phone and starts his search. It doesn’t take very long for him to realize that there are far too many handsome Korean men. Even when he narrows the search by trying to find guys that have an overseas schedule that just ended or just started, he doesn’t find him.

Damn it. That’s thirty minutes down the drain.

After another half hour of doing nothing, he gets up and sits down on the sofa. Coco comes by to ask for attention and he lifts her onto his lap. A few minutes pass before he shifts so that he’s lying on the sofa, rather than sitting. He snuggles Coco close to his chest and ends up falling asleep.


	2. Like The Stars (In The Night Sky)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't have anyone read this through for me before uploading, so I'm sorry if things don't make as much sense! Honestly, I meant to upload this sooner, but I hope you guys enjoy this (slightly longer) chapter!

Seriously, sometimes Mark is afraid that his sleep deprivation will get so bad that he’ll faint. It’s never gotten that far, but he could see it happening. He’s clumsy enough. He has plenty of bad luck, too. So why hasn’t it happened yet? 

And hey, maybe someone good-looking (like the model with the crinkly eyes) could catch him! That’d be nice. Perhaps he can even get a boyfriend out of the whole ordeal, although Mark isn’t sure if he’s ready for a boyfriend. He isn’t even good at making friends and maintaining friendships, so how could he manage being in a relationship?

It’s only because he lives with Youngjae that he sees his friend regularly and talks with him. It’s also thanks to Youngjae that he isn’t completely isolating himself. Although Coco helps too.

Mark looks down at his dog with a smile. She’s currently roaming the grass in search of a good place to do her business. Which, after all, is what walking your dog is for. Coco looks up from the grass to watch him for a second before she continues her search.

He takes a seat on the park bench and grabs a bottle of water out of his bag. During days like these, when he doesn’t have work in the morning, he likes to spoil Coco with extra time outside. And it’s good for him too. Otherwise he would just spend the day inside, playing video games or something. He’s actually really good at video games, but he tries not to game too much. He knows he should do other things.

Besides work and university coursework, he doesn’t have a lot of responsibilities. He also doesn’t really have a clear image of what he wants with his life once he gets his degree. Mark has never felt as though he has a definite passion for something. Honestly, he’s just hoping that things will work out on their own eventually. 

“Come on, Coco. Let’s head back.” Mark urges, pulling her closer to him gently. Even though Coco doesn’t seem to want to leave the park yet, she settles as he picks her up from the ground and holds her in his arms instead. Mark carries Coco to and into the apartment and puts her down on the floor.

He has work tonight, so he gathers his things in advance. That way he won’t have to worry about it later. Mark took the night shift when he was asked if he could. Normally he likes to keep his Friday nights free.

You see, Mark has a dance crew. They do breakdance and martial arts tricking and they just hang out and enjoy the music and each other’s company. Honestly, Mark’s at ease with his crew, because when he dances no one expects him to talk. He loves dance and he likes the guys he dances with.

Youngjae isn’t as interested in dance as Mark is. His focus is music, which is actually also his major at university. Youngjae’s a really good singer, but sometimes Mark gets a little sick of his loud voice when he sings along with the latest hits. What cracks Mark up the most is when Youngjae sings or talks in English. He’s not even bad at it, but he does have a bit of an accent.

“Hello man! My name’s Youngjae!” was what Youngjae told Mark when they first met. Youngjae patiently taught Mark Korean, while Mark helps Youngjae with his English. His flatmate is always so eager to learn and so excited when he knows a few more sentences in English than before. Youngjae’s enthusiasm tends to rub off on Mark at times like that.

Mark leaves for work a little early. It’s been a couple of weeks now since the model came into the coffee shop. He’s given up hope that he’ll ever see the man again. Mark feels sad for not knowing his name or seeing more of the guy’s beauty, but he couldn’t get hung up on a stranger. That was ridiculous, really.

“Afternoon.” He greets his boss, who’s packing his things. Mark knows he’s working on his own again tonight, which is fine by him. He honestly prefers it over working with some of his co-workers. He doesn’t get along with all of them very well.

He gets slapped on the shoulder as if his boss is saying ‘good luck’ and then the guy leaves, knowing that he can trust Mark to take care of everything. It’s only a few minutes after his boss’s departure that a group of customers suddenly enter the coffee shop. They seem to want to grab a quick bite to eat before getting on their plane or going home. Honestly, Mark can relate. Sometimes he really is a bottomless pit regarding food.

Mark doesn’t remember how often he said “welcome” and he’s definitely asked “would you like something to eat with that?” a lot when the customers only ordered something to drink. He’s so busy with his work that he writes the names _Bambam_ and _Junior_ on the smoothie and iced Americano before he realises that one of those guys is the model.

_Fuck_ , he’s still gorgeous. Mark gapes at him for a couple of seconds and gets a weird look from the man’s friend. The model himself is too busy looking at the cookies and brownies they sell to notice Mark staring.

He clears his throat and says “Bambam?”, which is how he finds out that’s the name of the model’s friend. Which means the model’s name is Junior.

Mark smiles and hands Bambam his smoothie before he says Junior’s name. The model looks up to him. Their eyes meet and _holy shit, his eyes are the most beautiful thing in the whole world_. He shakes his head briefly, trying to keep himself together. He quickly hands Junior his coffee and for a second, their fingers touch.

He retreats his hand as soon as he feels Junior’s cold fingers on his own. Mark quickly gets back to work while Junior and Bambam take a seat not too far from Mark’s counter. Mark manages to peek at the two men a couple of times while he works.

Junior is wearing a long sleeved, white shirt. His dark blue jeans are folded a little at the bottom and– Mark frowns, is he actually wearing sandals? It’s pretty damn cold outside, though. Maybe that’s why Junior’s hand was so cold when they touched before.

Bambam is wearing black jeans, a grey T-shirt and fancy, leather shoes. He’s kind of cute too and Mark thinks he’s seen him somewhere before. Are they celebrities? Mark feels like an idiot for not knowing. Honestly, they could both be models, if you asked him.

As the shop gets quieter, Mark starts to clean a little. Occasionally, he would sneak another glance at Bambam and Junior, who are still sitting in his shop. Part of him wants for them to leave, because Junior is distracting him from his duties, but then again… he really likes being able to see the man again.

Junior is leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees as he watches Bambam while the younger talks. Junior’s black bag is sitting on his lap, kept in place by his chest and arms. Junior really is handsome and the way he listens so intently to what Bambam is saying makes Mark smile.

Mark tries not to listen in to the conversation, because he really does think that customers in the coffee shop deserve some form of privacy. Still, he notices that Junior regularly reaches out to Bambam to squeeze his arm or pat his knee. Mark isn’t too big on skinship, especially with strangers. But somehow he does wish that he would be on the receiving end of Junior’s.

He notices that the models’ mugs are empty. So he walks over, knowing that they normally don’t do this, but Mark clears his throat. “Can I get you two anything else?”

Junior’s smile makes Mark’s stomach clench. He swallowed thickly and instead looks at Bambam, smiling to the two of them. They politely decline, but stay around for a while longer. Mark rubs his clammy hands over his trousers and gets back to serving the few customers that enter the shop.

Honestly, when Junior and Bambam finally leave, Mark feels both giddy and exhausted. He’s well aware that he’s crushing on Junior, even though he knows nothing about the man. It’s ridiculous, seriously, and Mark mentally scolds himself for letting it get out of hand so quickly. He tells himself to not do anything with the newly acquired information about Junior. 

When he gets home, he greets Youngjae and heads straight to him room. They’ll talk over breakfast and then Mark will update him about what happened today. For now, Mark just wants to sleep. In the end that seems too difficult a task and he ends up staring at the ceiling, wishing that Junior would be at the airport more often, if only so that Mark could admire him from a safe distance…


	3. I Think I'm Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jinyoung's POV!

Jinyoung checks his watch. He sighs and observes as the minutes tick away. He’s jetlagged and he hates it. It’s dark outside and he knows he should be sleeping. According to the time zone he’s in, at least. His biological clock doesn’t quite agree.

Eventually, he just gives up. He crawls off the bed and walks around the hotel room. Maybe he should just head down to the bar and grab something to drink. Then again, right now Jinyoung isn’t too keen on being around people. The quiet of his hotel room is actually really nice.

He ends up taking out his notebook and sitting at the desk. Jinyoung often writes in his notebook when he has time to spare. On set, for example, or backstage. It’s a great way for him to clear his head, although Jinyoung doesn’t actually know what he’ll do with the things he writes down. He almost literally writes everything that comes to mind. Which is why there’s a page dedicated to the cute barista who works at the coffee shop at Incheon airport.

When Jinyoung first met Mark, the man was too caught up in his love for the chocolate drink. He hadn’t realised that there was a customer in his shop. Jinyoung had worried that maybe the shop was closed, but Mark quickly (and awkwardly) greeted him and made him his order. Jinyoung had found Mark’s awkwardness endearing. Thinking about it now, he still does.

Jinyoung is happy that he had the good sense to check Mark’s name tag, which is how he learned the man’s name. Not that there’s a lot that he can do with that information, but it’s nice to know regardless. Jinyoung is a realistic person and he knows that just the man’s name, the coffee shop at the airport and the pastel pink hair isn’t enough information to track the man down.

With Mark’s hair being the colour that it is, Jinyoung had thought for a second that he must be a K-pop idol. Although maybe he thought that because Mark is an incredibly beautiful man too. Seeing Mark work the two times he’s been to Incheon after their first encounter made Jinyoung decide that the man probably wasn’t an idol after all.

The second time Jinyoung saw Mark, he had been in a hurry and he couldn’t enter to order a coffee just so he could interact with Mark again. He’d walked by the store and his day hadn’t been as bright after that. The third time, he’d been travelling together with Bambam and he’d managed to convince the younger that grabbing something to drink at that particular coffee shop was a great idea. That day, Jinyoung had pretended to be incredibly busy checking out the variety of foods that the shop sold, so that he wouldn’t stare at the barista who increased his heartrate considerably.

During his conversation with Bambam, he hadn’t been able to pay much attention to Mark. He and Bambam were having a personal talk and Jinyoung needed to be there for his friend. It wouldn’t have felt right if he’d checked Mark out during that conversation. Bambam needed his support, so Jinyoung had forced himself to not get distracted by the light-haired barista.

He jerks up at the noise of his phone ringing, disrupting his thoughts. Jinyoung checks the caller id and when he reads Jackson, he answers immediately: “Hello?”

“Jinyoung-ah, it’s been so long!” Jackson tells him loudly and Jinyoung moves the phone away from his ear so that he won’t go deaf. Still, hearing Jackson’s voice after a while makes him smile.

“Hey Jackson. How have you been?”

“Busy, as always.” The other answers cheerfully, because to Jackson being busy is generally a good thing. Jinyoung mostly agrees, but right now he wouldn’t mind a week or two of vacation. He’s been travelling a lot recently, trying to film the scenes of a drama he’s the lead in. Once the drama filming’s finished, he’ll have to prepare for the musical he will perform in.

“Yeah, me too.” Jinyoung sighs, leaning back in the chair. His notebook is still opened and he quietly closes is, so that what he’s just written isn’t staring him in the face.

“I heard you’re abroad right now, you in Hong Kong?” Jackson asks and he sounds like he’s pouting, because apparently Jinyoung doesn’t update his friend about his travel plans nearly enough.

“Ah, no. I’m actually in London at the moment.” Jinyoung admits, “I do have a schedule in Hong Kong in about a month, I think?”

“Fuck yeah! We gotta see each other again, man. I miss you, Jinyoung-ah!”

Jinyoung rolls his eyes and laughs. “I do think I’m scheduled to appear on your talk show once about this drama. And then maybe about the musical too?”

“Oh, right! But you know… although I really like you coming on my show, that’s not really what I was talking about when I said I wanted to see you.”

A chuckle escapes Jinyoung and he nods, even though Jackson won’t be able to see.

“So either we can meet up when we’re both in Seoul,” Jackson continues, “or we meet up when we’re both in Hong Kong. Either way, we’re going to have to sync our calendars, my love.”

Honestly, that was such a joke for Jackson to make. Still, it managed to get Jinyoung to laugh out loud for the second time today. He reaches up, hiding his smile with his hand out of habit.

“I’m serious!” Jackson exclaims, “Just text me when you’ll be in Hong Kong or when you’ll be back in Seoul. We need to catch up, I’ll treat you to food—”

“Meat?” Jinyoung asks hopefully and now it’s Jackson’s turn to laugh.

“You and your love for having meat together!”

“Well, it’s not my fault that you took Bambam but forgot to invite me.” He pouts and he honestly still isn’t over this. They are close, the three of them. So why has only Bambam been taken out to eat meat? All he’s ever gotten is noodles.

“I’ll take you to eat meat when we get together in Hong Kong or Seoul.” Jackson promises.

“You better!” Jinyoung warns.

They assure each other that they’ll keep in contact more from now on. Jinyoung just smiles when Jackson somehow manages to extent their phone call with what seems like a 15-minute monologue.

“I really have to head to bed now, goodnight Jackson!” Jinyoung interrupts him when he realises that Jackson is far from finished talking.

“Goodnight!” Jackson shouts before they end their call.

***

The airplane lands and Jinyoung gets woken by one of the flight attendants. He smiles at her politely and hopes he doesn’t look too much like a zombie as he walks into the airport.

Coffee. Yes, he needed coffee.

Without thinking, Jinyoung walks into what has now turned into his regular coffee shop. There’s no queue and the pink-haired barista is cleaning some of the tables when he walks in. Mark looks good, even though he seems to be pretty tired too.

Mark’s wearing what he usually does when he’s working. Dark blue jeans, black sneakers, a white T-shirt with a black apron and a name tag. Compared to Mark, Jinyoung looks quite fancy. He’s wearing beige trousers and a blue sweater with a pullover. He has a blue scarf around his neck and he pulls down his black surgical mask a little so he’ll be able to talk with Mark and order a coffee.

Jinyoung walks to the counter and leans against it, waiting for Mark to come and get him his coffee, which he does once he finishes wiping the last table.

“Sorry about that,” Mark smiles broadly and looks at him, only to stare at him with wide eyes.

“Ah, that’s okay.” Jinyoung assures him, trying not to mind the surprised expression on Mark’s face. “I would like a double espresso, please.”

Mark frowns at that, “Not the usual iced Americano?” and just as he says that, he blushes.

Jinyoung chuckles and shakes his head: “No, I need some more caffeine, else I might fall asleep on you right here.”

Somehow that gets Mark to laugh and it’s a high pitched sort of laughter that – surprisingly – Jinyoung actually likes. “You can, if you’d like. I’ll watch over you.” Mark replies playfully.

To that, Jinyoung can’t help but smile broadly. Also because he got Mark to talk more and his voice is soft and low, and kind of beautiful. “I appreciate the offer, but I should probably just head home.”

Mark nods understandably and makes Jinyoung his coffee, writing Junior on it without asking.

Somehow Jinyoung feels bad for shutting Mark down like he had and when he takes the coffee, he takes a seat. It makes Mark frown and Jinyoung explains: “I think I’ll wait for the caffeine to take effect before leaving.”

Mark seems more than happy to allow Jinyoung to stay. He actually takes a seat at the table with him. “I’ll keep you company then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you guys think!  
> I love reading your comments and it's such good motivation for me to keep writing this story.


	4. I Want To Be Next To You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Mostly) Mark's POV.

Mark can’t believe it. Here he is, in the coffee shop with Junior sitting in front of him. They’re smiling and joking and Mark has never felt this happy to converse with someone who’s practically a stranger to him.

Junior is absolutely stunning and he looks like a celebrity, whereas Mark is fumbling and mumbling, blushing and overall making an absolute idiot of himself. Why Junior’s still smiling at him and talking to him is an absolute mystery to Mark.

Honestly, now that he’s in this situation, Mark has no idea what to say to Junior. For a while, he just watches him sip from his coffee or Mark looks around to see if there’s any chores he forgot to do that he might have to do before sitting with Junior. Eventually, Mark’s curiosity got the best of him and he asks: “So is Junior your real name?”

When Junior looks up at him, he seems surprised that Mark interrupted the comfortable silence between them. A soft smile crosses his lips and he shakes his head, “Ah, no. It isn’t, actually.”

Mark nods.

“Junior is my stage name.” Junior explains easily. “My real name is Park Jinyoung.”

“Park Jinyoung.” Mark repeated quietly, before saying: “If you have a stage name, you’re a celebrity, right?”

Jinyoung laughs, his hand covering his mouth again as the crinkles around his eyes appear. He looks cute, but Mark can’t help but wonder why Jinyoung feels the need to hide his smile. 

“I’m an actor.” The younger informs him and Mark doesn’t know how to respond to that.

He’s talking with an actor right now. Someone who must be famous, seeing how often they’ve crossed paths at the airport now. Unknown actors don’t travel by airplane that much, do they? So here he is, awkwardly trying to make conversation with someone handsome and famous…

Once again, Jinyoung is the one to talk. “What about you? Apart from working here, that is.”

“I’m a student.” Mark mumbles, a shy smile crossing his lips. “I, um… I came to Korea to study.”

“Where are you from?” Jinyoung asks and he seems genuinely interested.

It throws Mark off a little and he laughs softly. He’s not used to being watched so intently, but Jinyoung is leaning forward a little, waiting patiently for his answer. “I’m American.”

“Your Korean’s really good.” The actor compliments.

“Youngjae helped me with pronunciation. It’s still hard sometimes.” Mark watches Jinyoung’s questioning expression and quickly adds: “Oh, Youngjae is a friend of mine. We live together.”

“Ah.” Jinyoung nods.

“I’m assuming Bambam is a friend of yours?” Mark asks, mentioning the younger man from a while ago. “Is he an actor too?”

When Jinyoung laughs, Mark is worried that he may have said something wrong. “Yeah, Bambam’s one of my best friends, but he’s not an actor. He’s a designer and fashion blogger.”

Mark hums softly.

They end up sitting in silence after that. Mark occasionally worries whether he should say something to start conversation again, but Jinyoung doesn’t seem to mind drinking his coffee and sitting together quietly. Mark is relieved with the lack of customers, apart from Jinyoung, that is.

It doesn’t take Jinyoung very long to finish his coffee, but he doesn’t make an attempt to leave. As the actor turns to look at the few people walking by the shop, Mark takes the time to watch Jinyoung. Mark wonders if Jinyoung is actually more sleep deprived than he is at this point. It seems to be the case.

Mark has no idea how long they sit there, but Jinyoung starts nodding off. His head lulls to the side a little. Jinyoung’s lips are parted as he breathes softly and steadily. Mark feels guilty. He knows that he shouldn’t stare while the man is sleeping, but Jinyoung’s just so beautiful.

He has to suppress the urge to reach out and brush his fingers through Jinyoung’s dark hair, or to stroke his face. Jinyoung still had the surgical mask on, hiding his chin and jawline from view and Mark wants to remove it, so that he could see more of the actor asleep in front of him.

After a few more minutes of (mostly) shameless staring, Mark gently lays a hand on Jinyoung’s shoulder, giving it a shake.

Jinyoung frowns and he blinks a couple of times. Mark feels the man stiffen under his fingers when Jinyoung sees him and realizes what has happened.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” Jinyoung tells him.

Mark smiles and shakes his head, “It’s alright. It seemed like you could use some rest.”

A soft grunt is all that Mark got in reply and he laughs: “I would’ve let you sleep, if it weren’t for the fact that I’m getting off work soon. If you want, I could drive you home?”

Where the hell did he get the courage to offer Jinyoung a ride to his place? He doesn’t even know where the actor lives and he sure as hell is tired enough to not even want to drive himself home at this point.

“I don’t know…” Jinyoung mumbles hesitantly.

“I’d be happy to drive you, seriously.” Mark hears himself say and Jinyoung’s grateful smile makes that he doesn’t regret it.

“Can I help with closing up then?” The actor suggests as they both get up from their seats and Mark grabs Jinyoung’s empty cup.

Mark considers that for a moment before saying: “You can wipe the tables.” 

He knows he already did that before Jinyoung arrived and there haven’t been any customers since, but it’ll keep Jinyoung busy while he closes up. This way Jinyoung won’t feel useless. Or at least, that’s what Mark hopes for. So Mark hands Jinyoung a cloth and gets to work himself too. It takes them about fifteen minutes to close the shop. 

They stand outside the coffee shop and Mark has removed his apron and name tag. Jinyoung moves his mask over his nose and mouth again after asking if Mark doesn’t mind, which he doesn’t. 

Mark reaches over and gently takes Jinyoung’s hand into his. “Follow me,” he tells him.

If Jinyoung is surprised by the grip of Mark’s hand on his own, he doesn’t show it. He follows Mark to the parking garage in silence and Mark curses under his breath when they reach his car and he still has to search for his car keys.

He hears Jinyoung chuckle when he finally fishes the keys out of his bag. Mark feels his cheeks flush and turns his head away to hide it from the other. They get into his car and Jinyoung removes his surgical mask, pushing it into his bag without a second thought.

Mark is already driving out of the parking garage and headed towards Seoul when he realises something: “Ah, um… where do you live?”

Jinyoung smiles at him amusedly before giving him his address. It’s in Seoul, at least. So Mark hasn’t been driving them in the wrong direction. Although he isn’t entirely sure how to get to Jinyoung’s place, he knows the general route to that part of town.

He hasn’t put on the radio and Mark considers the silence between them to be a relatively comfortable one. He just hopes Jinyoung thinks so too. 

Since Mark has to watch the road, he isn’t able to watch Jinyoung or see what he’s doing (unfortunately). Mark thinks that Jinyoung may just be watching the road too.

***

In reality, Jinyoung is watching Mark. He is a little scared to be caught staring, but he figures it’s worth it. Mark seems concentrated on driving anyway, which is a good thing.

Even though Jinyoung feels nervous about accepting a ride from a near stranger, he hopes that his instinct regarding Mark is right. The man seems kind and trustworthy. If he isn’t, then Jinyoung may have gotten himself in a lot of trouble.

Honestly, if he tells his manager or friends about this, they would yell at him and say that he is an idiot, that he can never do anything like this again and that he has put himself in unnecessary danger. But Jinyoung can’t get himself to regret his decision. 

Mark is sitting next to him and even though they’re not really talking, Jinyoung feels at ease in the man’s presence. Often around strangers, he feels nervous. It’s important to Jinyoung that people like him: his perfectionist nature even reflected in the way he approaches people and handles social interactions.

With Mark, he doesn’t feel pressured to be one way or another. He can be himself, the way Mark is being himself as well. So when they reach Jinyoung’s place, the man is disappointed that they’re there already. He doesn’t want his time with Mark to end.

At the very least, he wants to keep in contact with Mark. So Jinyoung gathers his courage and asks: “Would you like to exchange phone numbers?”

“Of course!” The way Mark’s face lights up when he asks, makes Jinyoung blush. He hasn’t expected such a positive response. They hand each other their phones and add their numbers.

“Text me when you get home safely.” Jinyoung instructs before leaning over to gently pull Mark into an embrace. “Thank you for the ride.”

Mark doesn’t reply and Jinyoung gets out of the car, waving once before heading inside. It’s late and he’s exhausted. He can’t wait to crawl into bed and sleep.

When Jinyoung is in his apartment, he rushes to the window and is just in time to see Mark’s car turning a corner at the end of the street. He smiles to himself and opens the contact list on his phone to stare at Mark’s name and number. Jinyoung promises himself that he’ll wait for Mark’s text before going to sleep.

Once he’s gotten ready for bed, Jinyoung is disappointed with the lack of messages from Mark. How far does Mark live from his place? Did Jinyoung inconvenience the man too much by accepting the ride home? He hopes that isn’t the case.

Jinyoung tries to keep himself awake, but his eyelids are heavy. The coffee doesn’t seem to have helped much. Especially since he actually nodded off at the coffee shop. _It’s so embarrassing…_

When he catches himself falling asleep and jerking awake a couple of times, he decides that he can’t wait for Mark’s text any longer. Jinyoung sends the pink-haired barista a message instead.

**[Thank you for keeping me company tonight. Sleep well.]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos and comments if you liked this chapter! It really motivates me to keep going :)


	5. Swinging and Missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I took a while to upload this chapter. I had some trouble with Jaebum's role in this story.  
> Hopefully you'll like what I came up with!

The sun is too bright and Youngjae is too loud (he’s singing in the shower again). Mark turns around and buries his face in his pillow, unwilling to get up just yet. It’s unfair that Youngjae feels so happy and well-rested whereas Mark feels more like someone who probably lacks so much sleep that their brain will shut down soon, and that’s not healthy.

Eventually, Mark manages to drag himself out of bed and to the kitchen. He eats his breakfast and is just about to get dressed when Youngjae comes out of the bathroom with that broad smile of his.

“Morning!” Youngjae’s cheerful voice resounds as he leans against the wall and finishes drying his hair with a towel.

Mark just smiles tiredly.

“You came home late last night.” Youngjae states this as a fact, which it is.

“Yeah, I gave someone a ride home and got lost on my way here. I couldn’t look up the correct route because my phone died.”

“Who did you drive home?”

“Ah, um…” Mark blushes, looking down to his fingers. “Junior.”

“What?!” Youngjae exclaims and he takes a seat next to Mark. The stare he gives him is intense and Mark can’t bring himself to look up. “Tell me everything!”

And so Mark tells Youngjae about his night with Jinyoung. When he gets to the story of their car ride, Mark freezes. _Oh no_. 

He jumps up and runs to his room. His phone has been charging since he got home, but he completely forgot that he promised Jinyoung that he would text him.

Mark mentally scolds himself for being such an idiot when he checks his phone and finds out that he has an unread text message from Jinyoung. He takes his phone back into the kitchen with him, staring at the message with dread.

Youngjae takes his phone from him and reads the text without asking if he can. “You have to text him back, hyung.”

“What am I supposed to say?” Mark doesn’t think he’s ever felt this insecure about sending a text message before. He gets his phone back and stares at Jinyoung’s message once again. It’s such a sweet text, Mark feels like he won’t be able to reply with a similar sort of sentiment.

He writes and rewrites his message so often that in the end he probably thought about it too much. He makes Youngjae read a few of the options and eventually settles on one. Mark sends the text message before he can think about it any longer.

[Sorry for the late reply, my battery died. I slept alright, how about you? Are you caught up on sleep yet?]

Mark breathes a sigh of relief once it’s sent. That was far too stressful.

“You’re meeting Jaebum-hyung today, right?” His flatmate asks.

“Yeah. I am.” Mark confirms.

“Can you tell him thanks for helping me with my showcase performance?”

Mark smiles. Youngjae took part in their university’s showcase and Jaebum had graciously (if not slightly grumpily) agreed to create a simple choreography to add some dynamic to Youngjae’s solo act. “Sure.”

“Thanks, hyung!” Youngjae says and then he walks to his room to get dressed. Mark follows his example.

***

When Mark arrives, he sees Jaebum leaning against one of the pillars of the fly-over. Mark expected there to be more people, but it seems like it will be just them.

He doesn’t mind. Honestly, he may prefer this over meeting with their entire dance crew. This way he can actually end up having a conversation with Jaebum.

“JB!” Mark calls, because it’s easier for him to pronounce than Jaebum is. It doesn’t really matter to Jaebum what he’s called, as long as those younger than him address him as hyung. Mark, however, is older, so he can be friendly with him.

“Hey!”

After a brief hug, they’re both leaning against the pillar again. Mark starts off by forwarding Youngjae’s gratitude and the smile on Jaebum’s face makes him think that the choreographer had actually liked helping Youngjae out.

“Tell him no problem.” Jaebum says.

They end up sitting against the pillar and talking for a while. Mark doesn’t talk as much as JB does, but the conversation flows easily and they catch up after a few weeks of not seeing each other. 

Jaebum tells Mark that he has a new project coming up that he’s really excited about, “But I’m worried that my choreography won’t be good enough. There are a lot of great dancers participating and it’s been a while since I choreographed dance routines for such a big production.”

Mark reaches over to squeeze Jaebum’s shoulder. “You’ll do great. And I’m always around if you need someone to bounce ideas off of.”

“I appreciate that.”

To be honest, when Mark first met JB, he’d thought he was a cold guy. He didn’t expect that they would get along this well. But now Jaebum is one of his best friends and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Sometimes it does feel like Jaebum is more of a hyung to their younger friends than he is, but that doesn’t really bother Mark a lot. He’s American after all, the hyung-dongsaeng system is something he’s still getting used to.

Mark is briefly distracted by the buzzing of his phone and he smiles when he sees it’s a message from Jinyoung.

**[I still feel a little groggy, but I should be okay. My busy schedule keeps me occupied regardless.]**

Jaebum’s curious gaze makes that Mark has to explain who just messaged him and how he knows him. In the end, JB just smiles.

“You like him, don’t you?”

Mark’s face flushes as pink as his hair and he looks down to his lap. “I don’t know. I guess, maybe.”

“Oh, you do!” Jaebum laughs and Mark feels foolish until he feels his friend’s hand clap on his shoulder, “Finally!”

“What do you mean, finally?” He questions.

“Well, it took you long enough to find someone you like. We’ve been trying to set you up for months now, and here you are, finding some handsome guy all on your own!”

“Says you.” Mark huffs, “You’ve been single since forever!”

Jaebum is slightly speechless at that.

Suddenly, Mark feels bad for lashing out at JB the way he did. So he smiles apologetically and gets up. “Come on, let’s go eat something. I’m starving.”

That makes Jaebum chuckle and Mark pulls the man to his feet with a smile.

They eat dinner quietly. Their usual conversational topics have been covered and neither of them feel the need to interrupt the peaceful silence with chatter. After dinner, they say goodbye and promise to meet each other again soon with the rest of the crew. 

Both Mark and Jaebum have been rather busy lately and so the meetings with their dance crew has been less of a weekly and more of a bi-weekly thing.

“See you next Friday!” JB calls with his car window open before he drives off.

Once Mark is seated in his own car, he checks Jinyoung’s text message again and replies.

**[Make sure to take good care of yourself. Jinyoung, fighting!]**

He cringes a little at his own cheesiness, but sends the message anyway.

***

A couple of weeks pass. Mark and Jinyoung have been texting occasionally, but due to Jinyoung’s long days of work and Mark’s (now regular) night shifts, they often have to wait a while for the other’s reply.

So when Mark hasn’t heard anything from Jinyoung for a few days, he isn’t too worried. He imagines that Jinyoung’s world revolves around basically anything but him. He can’t really expect to get messages from Jinyoung 24/7, can he?

That day, Mark has to work with a few colleagues. Since it’s a Sunday, they expect a lot of customers. Honestly, he’s glad when his shift is over and he can stumble to his car and go home.

On his way to the parking garage, Mark spots someone familiar.

_Jinyoung._

He’s about to go over to say hi when the actor turns his head a little and Mark can see that he’s crying.

Mark is at a loss. Should he go over and comfort Jinyoung? They weren’t that close, even if they’ve messaged each other quite a bit since they officially met. He doesn’t know if Jinyoung wants anyone to see him like this. Still, it couldn’t hurt to ask Jinyoung if there’s anything he can do for him, right?

He puts a step in Jinyoung’s direction when a man walks over and placed his hand on Jinyoung’s neck, gently pulling him into an embrace. Jinyoung rests his head against the new guy’s shoulder and they stand like that. Mark watches, frozen in place.

The stranger’s white-blond hair is in stark contrast with Jinyoung’s black strands. The guy’s is dressed in all black. He has sunglasses on, just like Jinyoung. Mark thinks he’s probably famous too. He’s handsome enough to be, really.

_Oh_. Mark’s eyes widen when he realizes that he recognizes the stranger. It’s Jackson Wang. The guy who hosts the Jackson Show. Mark has watched so many episodes of that show, mostly because Jackson’s fluent in Mandarin, Korean and English, just like Mark, and he uses all three languages while he hosts. The guests of his show always seem comfortable. It always seems to Mark as though the show has little to no format, but Jackson’s bright personality is more than enough to get people talking.

Jinyoung covers his mouth with his hand. Normally when he does that, he’s either smiling or laughing. But right now, Mark can see a tear roll down the guy’s cheek and his heart breaks.

Suddenly, Mark feels weird standing there, watching his sort-of-friend (were they friends?) cry and be comforted by none other than Jackson Wang. He decides that it’s time to be less of a creeper and just go home. Besides, if Jinyoung sees him stare like this, he might not want to be friends with him at all.

When he’s finally home, he feels bad. He should’ve done something to cheer Jinyoung up. There has to be something he can do to help. Anything.

**[You know how I said I was clumsy? Case and point: I spilled three entire coffees on my coworker today and I’m pretty sure I broke the freezer at work. Luckily, that meant I got free pastries! I’d be happy to share them with you, if you’d like?]**

Mark checks the message a couple of times and hopes that it’s good enough to at least earn him an eye-roll (not that he could check). He presses send.

Over two hours have passed when Mark’s phone buzzes. Jinyoung replied.

**[I’m sorry, hyung, but I’m not home right now.]**

Mark reads the message twice before closing his phone and burying his face in his hands. He’s an awful friend, isn’t he?


	6. A Hidden Gemstone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jinyoung's POV again! I hope you guys like it :)

**[I just saw your crying scene in My Love Eundong. That was intense.]**

Jinyoung chuckles as he keeps scrolling further up. 

**[You really rocked that leather jacket. You should wear that to the airport soon, your fans will go crazy.]**

**[I just made a complete fool out of myself in front of my boss. He laughed right in my face too.]**

Mark’s texts are generally quite short, but they make him feel good. Although sometimes Mark takes the time to write him a larger message than usual.

**[Did you know that Youngjae sometimes wakes me up when he sings while taking a shower in the early morning? It sucks. There goes my beauty sleep!]**

He likes texting with Mark. Especially when he’s back home or at the hotel after a busy day. Jinyoung always looks forward to the messages Mark has sent while he was on set, acting.

**[Your character in Dream High 2 is adorable. Why weren’t you the main character though?]**

He closes the application and curls up in bed, looking across the room to Jackson. The blond is talking on the phone in Mandarin, ordering them something to eat from room service. Jinyoung doesn’t really feel hungry, but he knows he should eat. Jinyoung just feels so drained, today has been an incredibly long day for him.

Jackson hangs up and crawls on the bed with him, sitting down next to him. Jinyoung feels happy that he has a friend who takes care of him so well. He still has to thank him for the comforting at the airport.

“I ordered a bunch of stuff, so you need to eat well tonight, Jinyoung-ah.”

Jinyoung hums, nodding a few times. It makes Jackson grin.

“Are you feeling better?” Jackson asks carefully, worried to remind Jinyoung of what had upset him.

“Yeah.” He says while he’s staring at the ceiling. “But Mark-hyung sent me a text today, and I’m worried my reply may have been too rude.”

The amused smile he got from Jackson made him hit the blond’s shoulder softly. 

“Don’t look at me like that!” Jinyoung pouts.

“Hey, I can’t help the fact that you’re totally gone for this Mark guy.”

“He’s just a good friend.” He mumbles, but Jinyoung can feel his cheeks heat up a little.

“Bullshit.”

Jinyoung has to admit that it’s pretty amazing that Mark can cheer him up, even when he’s not around. His text messages are enough to make Jinyoung feel a little better.

“The text he sent me today was the longest one he’s ever sent me.”

“Isn’t Mark the barista you couldn’t stop talking about when I called you last week?” Jackson inquires and Jinyoung’s blush worsens.

“Yeah…” He admits quietly.

“Why do you think your reply to Mark’s message was rude?” His friend asks, because even if he questioned him about other things before, he doesn’t forget it when Jinyoung shares his worries with him. This is why Jackson is such a great friend. Even if he’s loud at times, he’s a great listener.

“I don’t know, I just… he wrote such a long message and my reply was very short. And I did apologize to him for declining his offer—”

“What offer?” Jackson interrupts.

“The freezer at the café broke, so he got to take home pastries. He offered to share them with me, but since I’m here and not in Seoul…”

“Right.”

“So I told him sorry, but I’m not home, and that’s it.”

Jackson nods thoughtfully. “Maybe you should send him another message. Or invite him to do something later, so that he knows that you do like spending time with him.”

“I _really_ like spending time with him!” Jinyoung exclaims, raising his hands in defeat. He’s never felt like this before and he doesn’t know how to handle these feelings.

“So when you get back to Seoul, invite him over and hang out.” Jackson advises, ruffling Jinyoung’s hair playfully. He has to pull away when he hears a knock on their door. 

He accepts their dinner from the staff and brings it to bed.

Jinyoung scowls at him: “Table! Put it on the table!”

Jackson laughs and turns to put the food on the small table in the corner of the room. Jinyoung follows him there and takes a seat.

If he wasn’t hungry before, he is now. Their dinner smells delicious and Jinyoung realizes he hasn’t eaten since breakfast. So Jackson will just have to excuse him when he digs in immediately.

***

He’s back in Seoul. Jinyoung is back home, finally, and he can’t wait to be able to spend an entire day in his apartment, having a short break from his busy schedule.

Since he feels too drained to unpack his back, he just leaves it in his bedroom and closes the door. He flops down on the couch and lies there for a while. Now that he finally has a day off, he has no idea how to spend his time. 

The last few months have been endless filming and promoting of the drama he was in. And then the upcoming few months he’ll have to prepare for the musical, promote the musical, do the musical. Jinyoung already feels exhausted just thinking about it. But he knows that once he’s standing on stage, he’ll forget the struggles and worries, because he loves what he does. He wouldn’t want to be anything other than an actor.

His phone buzzes and he sees he got a message from Bambam.

**[Your outfit at the airport today was totally not okay, hyung. Let me style you next time!]**

He chuckles and shakes his head. If Bambam picks his outfit, he’s going to end up in leopard print, leather and heavy make-up. And that’s not his style.

Still, Bambam’s message reminds him that he hasn’t heard from Mark since he declined his offer of eating the leftover pastries together. Jinyoung pulls up Mark’s contact information and doubts for a bit before composing a message.

**[I just got home. Do you still have some pastries left? You can come over, if you’d like?]**

Jinyoung doesn’t want to think about it too much and ends up just sending the message. He moves off his couch and looks around his tidy apartment, unsure how to pass the time until Mark replies.

Fortunately, Jinyoung doesn’t have to wonder for long, because his phone vibrates in his hand, indicating that he got a text. And it’s from Mark.

**[Me and Youngjae ate some last night, but I have a plenty left. What time should I arrive?]**

A broad smile crosses his lips. Jinyoung isn’t sure what he expected, but he knows that he hadn’t expected Mark to agree so easily. He thought that maybe Mark would be upset with him, but that doesn’t seem the case.

**[I don’t know how long it takes for you to get here, but in about 30 minutes would be fine by me.]**

**[Yeah, I can be there in 30! See you soon, Jinyoung!]**

Jinyoung can’t stop smiling. Mark is such a nice guy, he feels so lucky to have met him. His thoughts get interrupted by his ringtone. Apparently he’s popular today.

It’s his manager and Jinyoung answers the phone as soon as he sees that.

“Hey hyung.” He greets with a smile, “What’s up?”

While his manager speaks, his smile slowly fades. Apparently the director reviewed their footage of the last few days and wasn’t pleased. So Jinyoung will have to come in again and reshoot quite a few scenes.

He swallows thickly. “I understand, hyung. Tell them I’ll work harder next time.”

“I’m sorry.” His manager tells him, knowing that Jinyoung doesn’t take these sort of comments well.

The call ends and Jinyoung sinks down on the couch. He doesn’t know what to do with this knowledge. So he hadn’t acted well enough. Honestly, he hadn’t been entirely pleased with his own performance. Then again, he rarely was. He didn’t think that it would be this bad, though. Was he really this bad?

He hides his face in his hands. His good mood entirely ruined by that one phone call with his manager. Negative feedback didn’t always get him down, but this is one of the worst things an actor could hear. Jinyoung will have to travel again and reshoot about three scenes. Three entire scenes!

Jinyoung groans and falls back against the couch, closing his eyes tightly and focussing on his breath. Did people even think that he was a good actor? Because however much he enjoyed acting, he didn’t always feel as though he was any good at it. And this isn’t the first time that the director wasn’t pleased with his work. 

Last time this happened, he’d already planned a meeting Jackson. So the blond was around to comfort him and keep him occupied. That way at least he couldn’t spiral down in his own thoughts.

Right now, no one is around. And he feels like crap.

When the doorbell rings, Jinyoung jerks up. _Shit_ , right, he’d invited Mark over. He wipes at his face and checks his appearance in the mirror (he doesn’t look good) before heading to the door and opening up.

Mark is smiling until he sees Jinyoung’s face: “Did something happen?”

Jinyoung just nods. He steps aside to let Mark in and the guy enters. Mark puts down the bag of pastries and takes off his shoes.

They take the food into the living room and Jinyoung doesn’t know what to say to Mark right now. He’s still not recovered from the news. He wishes he’d be a better friend. Mark is such a wonderful guy and this is one of the few times that they’re actually spending time together.

“Wanna talk about it?” Mark asks softly.

He looks up to his friend and smiles weakly. “I don’t know. I just—” Jinyoung plays with his fingers nervously, “Do you think I’m a good actor?”

As he asks that, he keeps a close eye on Mark’s expression. The man seems surprised by the question, but then he just nods. “Of course you’re a good actor. Didn’t you read my messages, raving about your performances? You’re so talented, Jinyoung…”

“Really?” The younger whispers.

“Really.” Mark assures him.

Without thinking about it, Jinyoung moves closer. He rests his face against Mark’s broad shoulder and closes his eyes tightly.

Mark’s arms wrap around him and they stand like that in silence.

Once he feels a little better, he suddenly notices his proximity to Mark. They’re hugging. He’s hugging Mark and it’s nice, but his heart is now beating like crazy.

Jinyoung slowly pulls away. He rubs his eyes before looking at his friend again, “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, no. Don’t worry about it.” Mark smiles softly and ruffles his fingers through Jinyoung’s dark hair. “How about we go eat some of those pastries I brought?”

“Sure.”

They take a seat on his couch and dig in. While they eat, they don’t talk at all. Jinyoung doesn’t mind. He just likes to spend time with Mark. He’s happy to be able to see the man again. It’s only now that Jinyoung notices that the pink in Mark’s hair has faded a little, but it doesn’t make the elder any less handsome.

“Would you like to watch a movie or something? I don’t really feel like talking right now.” Jinyoung explains, knowing that he might open up to Mark later. 

Mark agrees and as they settle on Jinyoung’s bed, they press closer. Mark reaches his hand out and took a hold of his’. Jinyoung smiles and entwines their fingers. The movie is playing, but he isn’t really paying much attention to it.

He feels Mark’s eyes on him and he looks over to the man. Jinyoung’s hand gets squeezed softly. The movie is still on, but it’s completely forgotten by them. “The director of the drama I’m working on isn’t pleased with a few of the scenes. I have to reshoot them.”

“Do you know why he’s unhappy with the footage?” Mark asks.

Jinyoung shrugs his shoulders. He assumed it was his acting.

“Maybe you can ask him? That way you know what to do to make sure the new footage turns out better? Obviously I’m not a director or anything, but—” Mark cuts himself off.

He nods thoughtfully. “Yeah, I guess I can ask him...”

“I’m sure you’ll do great.” Mark says, pressing his lips to the top of Jinyoung’s head.

It makes Jinyoung smile. He really likes this. It’s entirely different from being comforted by Jackson. Not necessarily worse or better, just different. And it feels good. Jinyoung feels better with Mark around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you thought of this chapter! I love reading your comments and I try to reply as much as I can! You can also hit me up on tumblr, if you'd like! My url is jji-nyeong.tumblr.com  
> Also, thank you guys so much for all the kudos, comments and hits. I'm sure I wouldn't have continued writing this without your support, so thank you! <3


	7. Stay By My Side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I'm updating this already. This chapter was a lot easier to write than a few of the others.  
> I hope you guys enjoy!

Mark wakes up early the next morning. For a second, he feels incredibly disoriented. He’s not entirely sure where he is, but that changes when he turns and sees a dark mop of hair. Jinyoung is still asleep.

He carefully moves out of the bed and pads over to the kitchen. They stayed up for a while, talking until deep into the night. When Mark admitted to having trouble getting to sleep, Jinyoung had helped. The younger’s soft voice, telling him stories until he felt drowsy, had been incredibly effective. Last night was the best night’s sleep he had in a while.

The fridge isn’t very full, but it has enough for Mark to be able to make breakfast (not that he’s a great cook anyway). He’s just plating their food when Jinyoung stumbles into the kitchen.

His hair is a mess and he looks adorable. Jinyoung obviously just woke up a second ago. It makes Mark smile as he hands the younger his breakfast.

“Oh my god, you’re an actual angel.” Jinyoung mumbles quietly as he stares down at the food. 

Mark laughs: “Yeah, alright, sleepyhead. Just eat up.”

When Jinyoung takes a seat and digs in, Mark does the same. They eat breakfast in silence, but it seems like breakfast won’t be enough to get the younger to wake up properly. Honestly, right now he’s just shoving the food in his mouth, mostly unaware of his surroundings.

“Maybe you should have a shower after breakfast.”

Jinyoung’s eyes widen a little, “Do I smell?”

That earns him a chuckle again and Mark shakes his head. “No, no! Not at all. It’s just that you don’t look quite awake just yet.”

A small smile crosses Jinyoung’s lips. He nods before pouting a little. “Well, yeah! I had to talk you to sleep.”

“Thank you for that.” Mark mumbles softly, his face heating up.

“I’m glad I could help you. You helped me too, after all. It was only right to do something in return.”

Mark shakes his head firmly at that. “Don’t ever feel like you have to repay me somehow for being nice to you. We’re friends now, right? And friends help each other without expecting anything in return.”

Jinyoung nods and the brightness of his smile makes Mark’s heart clench.

Being friends with Jinyoung might be an awful idea. Especially because Mark’s feelings towards the actor aren’t limited to friendship. Or at least, he’s not sure they are. It makes Mark nervous. He’s so glad that they have become friends, and he doesn’t want to ruin it.

When they finish eating their breakfast, Mark stands up and clears the table. He can feel Jinyoung’s eyes on his back as he rinses the dishes. He doesn’t really like being watched, so once he dried his hands, he turns back to face Jinyoung.

“Weren’t you supposed to take a shower?” He questions with a playful smile.

“Yeah, but I got side-tracked, because you look so much better in my pyjamas than I do.” He says it in such a casual way that Mark ends up laughing, thinking that it’s a joke. There’s no way that Mark is better looking than Jinyoung.

Jinyoung’s brow furrows and Mark quickly shuts himself up. He’s confused for a second before stammering: “W- wait… you were serious?”

A blush creeps up Mark’s cheeks when Jinyoung nods in silence, the actor’s dark eyes looking him over as if he’s trying to figure something out about him. Mark can’t bear the gaze and stares down at his feet instead.

He feels relief wash over him when Jinyoung hops up from his seat after a few more seconds of staring. “I’ll go shower now.” He declares as he saunters off to his bedroom.

Mark hears the shower running after a while and he heads to Jinyoung’s bedroom to quickly change back into his own clothing, folding Jinyoung’s pyjamas and leaving them on his bed. The actor can decide what to do with that on his own, later. 

He hums a soft song to himself as he looks around Jinyoung’s apartment. The American is surprised with the small amount of family photos, but enjoys watching the picture of a young Park Jinyoung with his parents in front of a country home nevertheless.

While Jinyoung moves from the bathroom into his bedroom, Mark takes a seat on the couch. He checks his phone. He’s not surprised to find that no one messaged or called him. He doesn’t have a lot of people that he interacts with. It’s mostly just Youngjae, Jaebum and now Jinyoung.

It’s then that Jinyoung decides to step out of his bedroom. He’s only wearing jeans and a tight shirt so far and Mark feels like he’s been punched in the gut. Jinyoung’s hair is still damp and he tosses a cardigan over a nearby chair. 

Mark can’t stop himself: he’s staring. Jinyoung has a lean figure and Mark finds himself wishing that he could hold the man by the waist and pull him closer. Instead of doing that, he slowly releases the breath he’s been holding and looks up to meet Jinyoung’s eyes.

“Did you have any plans for today?” Mark asks, hoping that he doesn’t. He’d really like to spend the rest of his day with Jinyoung.

“Hm…” The actor hums softly and walks over to check his phone. A frown creases his forehead.

“Is something wrong?”

“Ah, um…” Jinyoung seems to be sorting through his thoughts, looking from his phone to Mark and back to his phone again. “It’s just— a friend texted me. Do you mind if I just call him for a second?”

Mark shook his head. He pulls his knees up and wraps his arms around them, resting his head against them as he watches Jinyoung dial. He’s surprised when Jinyoung doesn’t leave the living room to conduct his call. Rather, he paces around in circles with the phone pressed to his ear.

During the call, the actor mostly listens. “I understand.” Jinyoung says at one point, smiling to himself and trying to muffle a soft chuckle. “Yes, of course.” 

Sometimes his eyes glance over Mark and he pulls an apologetic face, as if he hadn’t meant for this phone call to end up being so long. “Yugyeom-ah, you’ll be fine.” Jinyoung assures the other person. “You’ll do great, I promise.” He says, “Yeah, text me any time. I’ll call you again later.” He says. “Yugyeom-ah, fighting!” Jinyoung pumps his fist in the air when he says that and Mark tries not to laugh at him too loudly. He doesn’t want to disturb the conversation.

Jinyoung ends the call and tosses his phone aside. He walks over and sits down next to Mark. Like, right next to him with their legs and shoulders pressed against each other softly. “Sorry, that was one of the younger cast members for the musical.”

“Musical?” Mark asks, slightly breathless as how close Jinyoung’s face is to his own (and still flawless, he didn’t understand how that’s even possible).

“Ah, yeah. We’ve started practice already. Promotions will begin soon, too. I have a lead in a musical and Yugyeom plays a supporting character. It’s his first musical, but he’s an amazing dancer and a very good singer too, so I don’t really understand why he’s worried.” Jinyoung rambles. He soon shuts himself up and smiles, the adorable wrinkles appearing at his eyes again.

Mark smiles back, “I didn’t know you did musicals.”

“Well, I do.” Jinyoung laughs. 

They hang around Jinyoung’s house for a while, before Mark suggests going out. Jinyoung agrees, under the condition that it’s somewhere where people won’t recognise him.

“America, it is.” Mark jokes lamely, but he’s glad when it makes Jinyoung laugh.

Eventually, Mark takes Jinyoung to the fly-over. He’s taken the few pastries they had left along and he bought a bottle of cola on their way there. They settle against one of the pillars and spend their time together. They talk and eat, and talk some more while time flies by.

Mark hadn’t brought his coat to Jinyoung’s yesterday, but the weather today is a lot colder. The rain is blowing cool air under the fly-over and Mark shifts closer to Jinyoung. He feels Jinyoung’s arms around him as they cuddle to keep warm. Neither of them seem to want to suggest leaving.

When thunder is added to the downpour, Mark decides that it might be time to leave. “Maybe we should go back.” He suggests softly, “I don’t want you to get sick. You have a musical to prepare for, after all.”

Jinyoung shakes his head firmly. “No, I’m fine.”

“Please. I don’t want you to fall ill.” Mark presses, pouting at the man in hopes that that’ll help convince him.

A small shake of Jinyoung’s head means that Mark has to try harder.

“Please?” He begs.

Still no.

“Jinyoung-ah…” 

“Alright, alright!” Jinyoung sighs, crawling up and pulling Mark onto his feet as well. “Just don’t say my name like that again.”

“Why?” Mark asks with a small smile, hugging Jinyoung to his side as they head back to the car.

“I don’t like seeing you sad…” Jinyoung mumbles under his breath in reply.

“Aww.” He grins broadly and presses his lips to Jinyoung’s forehead.

They drive back to Jinyoung’s apartment and they rush inside as to not get too wet (neither of them brought an umbrella). The rain is clattering on the roof loudly and the thunder rumbles in the sky above them. 

Mark has to admit he isn’t too fond of thunder and can’t help the fact that he cringes slightly when a loud crash rips through the air.

“Hyung,” Jinyoung says, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

He nods quickly, but another lightning bolt shoots down from the grey clouds and Mark grabs onto Jinyoung’s cardigan. The younger laughs softly at him, but wraps his arms around Mark anyway.

“We’re safe here, hyung.” Jinyoung promises, “You’re safe with me.”

Before he knows it, he’s being lead to Jinyoung’s bedroom and they cuddle under the covers. Mark is pressed close to Jinyoung and he’s racking his brain to try and remember what he did to deserve someone as beautiful and bright as Jinyoung. The actor is like sunshine on this especially rainy day.

“Thank you.” Mark mumbles, his lips brushing against the fabric of Jinyoung’s shirt. He feels Jinyoung’s fingers thread to his hair and decides to focus on that sensation, rather than the loud crashes of thunder above.

“No problem.” Jinyoung replies quietly and now it’s his turn to press a soft kiss on Mark’s head, instead of the other way around.

Mark has no idea how long they stay like that, but it’s starting to get dark outside. He pulls back from their embrace and finds that Jinyoung has drifted off to sleep. He smiles at how beautiful the guy is and his stomach knots up again. Just when he’s about to thank the heavens that he was lucky enough to meet Park Jinyoung and befriend him, his phone rings.

Jinyoung jerks up and looks around. “Is it my phone? Where’s my phone?”

“No, don’t worry.” Mark shushes him, rubbing Jinyoung’s back after sitting up as well. He fishes his own phone out of his pocket, which is still ringing loudly. He answers with a curt ‘Mark Tuan?’

He wonders why a small smile tugs up Jinyoung’s lips, but he can’t worry about it too much, because his boss doesn’t seem to be in a good mood and he’s being ordered to come into work. And that’s far more reason to worry than Jinyoung’s smile.

When he hangs up, Mark just watches Jinyoung for a few seconds before a sigh escapes his lips.

“What’s up, hyung?” Jinyoung asks.

“I need to go to work. Someone called in sick and my boss can’t find anyone to cover their shift.”

“Oh.” The younger pouts, obviously just as upset about the fact that Mark will have to leave as Mark himself is.

“I’ll text you later?” Mark suggests as he gets out of Jinyoung’s bed and rubs over his clothes in an attempt to remove some of the wrinkles.

“Or I could come along? I promise I won’t be in your way!” 

Jinyoung seems so enthusiastic about his own idea that Mark can’t bring himself to tell him no.

And that’s how Jinyoung comes home with Mark. The actor waits in the living room with Coco patiently while Mark changes into his work clothes before they drive to Incheon airport together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter!  
> Thank you for all the hits, kudos and comments I've received so far! I really appreciate all of your love and support!


	8. Like A Sweet Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dedicate this chapter to the kind and beautiful jinyoungstuan :)

“I’m sorry that my apartment was such a mess.” Mark mumbles as he keeps his eyes on the road ahead of them. He’s taken this route so often now that he barely has to think about it. Still, traffic safety is imperative. Especially when he has someone as important as Jinyoung in the passenger’s seat.

“It’s fine. I’m sad that Youngjae wasn’t home, I would’ve liked to meet him.”

“He’s probably on campus, practicing.”

Jinyoung hums, nodding his head and Mark smiles. Neither of them feel the need to fill the comfortable silence that falls between them. Soon enough, Mark is driving them into the parking garage of the airport, finding a good parking spot ends up being relatively easy. They get out of the car and walk to the coffee shop. The American feels a little apprehensive to take Jinyoung along to work with him when his boss is already pissed, but he just hopes that there won’t be a lot of shouting. 

When they arrive at the coffee shop, Mark makes sure that Jinyoung is behind him, rather than next to him. He’ll take the yelling, not Jinyoung. 

They step inside. There are no customers to speak of. His boss is behind the counter, pacing around with his phone in his hand. He spots Mark and basically runs over: “Thank god, you’re here! I have to go now. Good luck!” And with that, the guy leaves. Mark doubts he even noticed Jinyoung’s presence.

That wasn’t at all what Mark had expected, but he’s incredibly relieved not to have been yelled at. He steps behind the counter and chuckles briefly. Jinyoung seems a little lost all of a sudden. The actor is looking around the shop as if he doesn’t know how to hold himself. 

“What are you doing?”

Jinyoung’s head snaps up at Mark’s question and he shrugs briefly in reply.

“Get over here.” The barista tells him. Jinyoung obeys, stepping behind the counter and checking out the coffee machines quietly before peeking into the storage room. “Get back here. You need to learn the basics.”

The actor frowns a little: “What? Why?”

“If we suddenly get a lot of customers, you might as well help me work.” Mark explains and Jinyoung returns to his side. He seems hesitant and it makes him all the more adorable. “What’s a drink you’ve always wanted to try, but never have?”

“The caramel coffee.”

“Alright, I’ll teach you how to make it.” Mark says, grabbing a cup and putting it on the counter in front of Jinyoung. He winks when he says: “C’mon, Jinyoung-ah. Let’s give it a shot.”

Jinyoung stares at him, silently judging Mark’s coffee-related joke.

“Oh, don’t be like that. It was a sweet pun!”

“It definitely wasn’t.” Jinyoung tells him, but the corners of his lips tug up a little.

“It was a super sweet pun. Two sugars, extra cream and chocolate syrup sweet!” Mark exclaims.

Jinyoung tries to keep a straight face as he rolls his eyes: “Hyung, your jokes are leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.”

Mark can’t help it, he cackles at Jinyoung’s comment and doubles over. Jinyoung laughs along with him, gently resting his hand on Mark’s neck to keep him from collapsing onto the floor.

It takes quite a while for their giggles to subside. When they finally quiet down, Mark takes a deep breath. He looks at Jinyoung, who’s watching him with a broad smile on his face, and he doesn’t think he’s ever been this happy during work.

“Alright, let’s get started.” Mark gently tugs Jinyoung closer and shifts him so that he’s standing in front of the coffee machine. He’s positioned behind the actor and leans forward to guide Jinyoung’s hands, mumbling instructions as they make the caramel coffee.

Both of the men are very aware of how close they are to each other. Mark’s chest pressed against Jinyoung’s back and his hands covering Jinyoung’s. Once the coffee is done, Mark steps back, putting some distance between them. “Taste it,” he urges.

“Are you sure I did it right?” Jinyoung sounds apprehensive and Mark chuckles.

“You did great, now take a sip.”

Jinyoung bring the cup up to his lips and Mark keeps a close eye on him as he takes a sip from their caramel coffee. A small frown creases his forehead before his expression brightens with a broad smile. “Oh my god, this is amazing.” He mumbles, eager to take another sip.

Mark leans back against the counter and laughs. His chest swelling with pride, knowing that they made that together. “Do you think you can make one for me now?”

“What?” Jinyoung stares at him with wide eyes. He seems genuinely terrified of making Mark the same drink they made together a second ago. Jinyoung quickly shakes his head. “No. No, I definitely can’t.”

“Please just try. What could go wrong?”

“A lot!” The actor exclaims, “And I’m not good at this! You’re the barista, you make yourself a drink!”

Mark pouts, “But I always make coffee. I want to taste one that you made me.”

Jinyoung groans, burying his face in his hands and shaking his head.

“Please?” Mark begs and he can see Jinyoung peek through his fingers. The younger lets out another moan before he turns around to face the machines.

“Okay… alright.” Jinyoung mumbles softly.

“Let’s start with a mug, Jinyoung-ah.” Mark reminds him with a grin. 

He nods a little and looks around, finding a mug in an open cabinet under the counter. He takes a deep breath and starts to follow Mark’s instructions from before. Mark keeps a close eye on Jinyoung as he works, because even though he trusts that Jinyoung will do just fine, he can’t afford to let him ruin the expensive coffee machines in the shop.

Jinyoung’s movements are hesitant, but he’s actually doing a great job at making Mark his caramel coffee. The younger breathes a sigh of relief when he’s finally done. He turns around and hands the mug to Mark. “If it sucks, please just throw it out.” He tells him.

Mark takes the coffee from Jinyoung and closes his eyes to breathe in the strong scent of freshly brewed coffee along with the hint of caramel that the shot of syrup gives. He takes a sip and slowly opens his eyes again, seeing Jinyoung watch him as intently as he watched the actor before.

“And?” Jinyoung asks quietly and Mark thinks it’s adorable how insecure he is about his coffee making abilities.

“It’s great. I’d hire you on the spot.”

The crinkles appear at Jinyoung’s eyes again when his face lights up.

“Park Jinyoung: actor slash barista.” Mark declares and they laugh at how silly that sounds. The elder puts the mug aside and reaches out to Jinyoung, who moves into his arms happily. Mark is surprised with how easily he’s initiated skinship around Jinyoung. Normally Mark doesn’t really like being touched by people he barely knew. But that’s the thing: to him, it feels as if he’s known Jinyoung for ages. He’s never been this comfortable around someone this quickly.

He threads his fingers through Jinyoung’s hair softly. It makes the younger look down at him through his lashes. Mark heart swells up in his chest and he grins up to Jinyoung (seeing as the actor was slightly taller than he was). Somehow they simultaneously move forward and their foreheads bump against each other.

“Ow.” Jinyoung says as they move away. Mark presses his hand to his forehead. When their eyes meet, they can’t help but laugh. It feels insane, their first kiss ruined by the fact that both of them had wanted to initiate it.

Their laughing stops after a few seconds and Jinyoung is smiling down at him again. Mark cups his face and he feels Jinyoung’s arms wrap around his waist. They press closer and brush their lips together. Jinyoung pulls him closer (even though that barely seems possible) and they chuckle against each other’s lips.

Mark is the first to pull away, mostly because he notices someone standing in the doorway. Jinyoung doesn’t seem too pleased with this turn of events, but Mark quickly makes the teenage girl her smoothie. She barely pays attention to him, her eyes fixed on the actor standing next to him.

“Have a nice day!” Mark tells her once she’s accepted her drink.

She lingers briefly before stammering: “Ah, sorry, but… are you Junior?”

Mark turns to his friend to see a polite smile crossing his lips. Jinyoung bows to the girl and when she asks him for his autograph, he scribbles one onto a piece of paper that Mark provides.

“Thank you so much, Junior-oppa!” She smiles broadly before leaving the coffee shop again. 

When she’s gone, Mark and Jinyoung stay quiet for a while before Mark quietly mumbles: “Do you think she saw us kiss?”

“I don’t think so, why?” 

“Nothing.” Mark mutters, shrugging his shoulders quickly.

“I’m sorry about that, though.” Jinyoung says, gesturing to the entrance of the shop even though the girl wasn’t there anymore.

“Why would you be sorry?”

“Sometimes people dislike it when I get recognized with them around. Conversations with my friends have been interrupted because someone knew who I was.” The actor explains. Mark moves in, threading his arms around Jinyoung’s waist and pulling him closer. Jinyoung’s arms wrap around his neck in return.

“I don’t mind. You are a celebrity, after all.” The elder assures him, leaning in to taste Jinyoung’s lips again.

“Hm… I’m just glad you didn’t know that when we met.”

A blush forms on Mark’s cheeks as he mumbles: “Actually, I thought you were a model.”

Jinyoung laughs, his eyes crinkling at the corners and Mark buries his face in the younger’s shirt. He groans softly, embarrassed by his assumption, even if he was right about Jinyoung not being a mere mortal like himself.

“I thought you might’ve been a K-pop idol doing some sort of publicity stunt.” Jinyoung whispers in his ear and Mark’s head shoots up.

“What?” He squeaks. “Me? An idol?”

The actors nods and smiles cheekily at him. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“Hell yeah, that’s hard to believe!” Mark exclaims, “I’m not that handsome.”

“Don’t say that.” Jinyoung’s voice is soft and he gently makes Mark look up at him, brushing his thumb over Mark’s cheek. “I think you’re absolutely stunning. And come on, you had pink hair! What else was I supposed to think?”

“Youngjae won a dare.” The elder mumbles.

That makes Jinyoung laugh again and he presses his lips to Mark’s. “You were gorgeous. You still are.” The grip Jinyoung has on his face makes it impossible for Mark to shake his head, so he just sighs.

“If you say so.”

“I say so.” 

Mark chuckles. “I like you.”

He watches how Jinyoung’s eyes widen slightly at his confession, but the surprise soon makes way for a broad smile. Mark tries very hard not to drown in Jinyoung’s dark eyes, but he fails miserably. When Jinyoung tells him “I like you too.”, Mark is glad that he’s leaning against the counter, otherwise he may have collapsed.

“Thank you.” He whispers, because he never thought that loving someone could be this easy.

Jinyoung laughs and shakes his head: “You don’t have to thank me for liking you, hyung.”

A small smile crosses his lips. Jinyoung’s laugh is amazing and all Mark can do listen to it and watch the joy in the younger’s face. “I’m just happy that you do.”

“I’m happy that you like me, too.” The actor says, brushing his fingers through Mark’s (now basically blond) hair. “So thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me for liking you, Jinyoung-ah.” Mark jokes, chuckling softly when he gets a smile with the eye-crinkles again. Today has been a great day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the hits, kudos and comments! I'm so grateful to all of you for reading this and telling me your thoughts about my writing.  
> Please don't hesitate to tell me what you think about this chapter! I love reading your comments and I try to reply to all of them.


	9. Game Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jinyoung's POV again!

The fun they have together makes that time passes quickly. Mark’s unexpected night shift doesn’t seem to last as long as they normally would (or at least that’s what Mark tells him). Jinyoung has managed to make several other beverages rich on caffeine. If it wasn’t made for the rare customer that came in, then they threw the drink away. It was a waste, but they couldn’t drink too much coffee while they (mostly Mark) worked.

By now it’s already 2 am and Jinyoung is painfully aware that he has a busy schedule in the morning. The shop is quiet and the actor is seated at a table. His head rests on his arms and he’s struggling to keep his eyes open. Mark is busy mopping the floor.

A sleepy smile crosses Jinyoung’s lips as he watches. Mark has rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. His slim, yet muscular arms move back and forth in long strokes as he cleans. The younger can’t help but admire Mark’s work ethic. He only hopes that someday soon, Mark will find his passion and pursue it as a career. He just wants for Mark to be happy, and even though the elder is content with his job at the coffee shop, he knows that this isn’t Mark’s dream job. Jinyoung wishes that he knew of a way to help the American figure out what he loves to do...

With these thoughts on his mind, Jinyoung’s eyes close and he slips into unconsciousness.

He’s not sure how much time has passed, but he feels a hand on his shoulder. It’s shaking him gently and Jinyoung is very aware that he _should_ wake up, but he doesn’t want to. Instead, he hides his face behind his arm and groans. The hand pulls away and Jinyoung allows himself to keep sleeping.

At one point, he feels someone move him slightly and suddenly he’s being hoisted onto someone’s back. Jinyoung figures now might be a good time to at least see if he’s getting kidnapped by a stranger or if it’s someone he knows. So he opens his eyes and smiles as he sees Mark’s faded pink hair. He might have to just start calling it blond hair from now on, actually. 

Knowing that he’s in safe hands, Jinyoung wraps his arms around Mark’s shoulders and closes his eyes again. The walking isn’t very smooth, but how can it be when Mark is carrying him through the airport? Still, Jinyoung manages just fine to drift off again.

Suddenly, he hears the soft rumbling of the car’s motor. Jinyoung is curled up in the passenger’s seat of Mark’s car. He’s not sure whose apartment Mark’s taking him to, but he doesn’t really care. It surprises him that he’s buckled up just fine. How did Mark manage to do that without waking him?

Jinyoung smiles a little, listening to Mark singing along softly to the song on the radio. He doesn’t really want to wake up, but he forces himself to open his eyes. He shifts in the seat and watches Mark for a few seconds.

“Hey.” His voice is raw from sleep and Jinyoung clears his throat.

“Ah, did you sleep well?” Mark asks. The blond looks over to him briefly with the nicest smile Jinyoung’s ever been on the receiving end of.

“I think so.” Jinyoung mumbles. He threads is fingers through his hair and sits up. “What time is it?”

“About 5:30 am. One of my colleagues took over at five.” 

“I’m sorry I fell asleep on you.” Jinyoung says, turning his head a little. He feels stiff and he leans forward so that he can give himself a neck massage. Jinyoung carefully rubs over the knots that have formed in his muscles. He groans, he should’ve just stayed awake.

“It’s alright. You looked cute.” Mark smiles.

Jinyoung chuckles and sits up again. “Are we going to my place or yours?” He asks as he tries to recognise where they are, but he’s not really good with directions.

“Yours. I figured you probably had to work again today.”

The younger nods. “I do.” He buries his face in his hands, “My manager’s picking me up at 8. I’m going to die today. I’m so tired.”

“I’m sorry.” Mark’s voice is barely audible, “I shouldn’t have taken you to work with me.”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous!”

“It’s my fault that you’re so tired. If you’d just stayed home—”

“Yah!” Jinyoung calls, making Mark look up at him briefly before he quickly turned his attention back to the road. “It’s not your fault, hyung. Don’t say stuff like that. I wanted to come.”

“Alright…” Mark sighs. And even though he nods, Mark doesn’t sound convinced.

It’s not long after that, that they pull up in front of his house. Jinyoung leans over, resting his hand on Mark’s lap, so that he can kiss Mark goodbye. “Text me when you’re home safe.” Jinyoung tells him and Mark hums in response.

“I’m serious, you can’t forget again.” The actor says, a stern look on his face.

“I won’t. I promise.” Mark says and Jinyoung’s strict expression changes into a smile. That promise is enough for him to be pleased, so he heads up to his apartment with little to worry about. Or, well, regarding Mark, at least. He still has to be up at 8 am and that means he won’t be able to catch up on sleep much.

Jinyoung doesn’t take the time to change into his pyjamas. Instead he just collapses onto his bed and curls up on the side where Mark had slept the night before. He hugs Mark’s pillow close and a small smile forms on his lips as he falls asleep.

***

Who the hell was calling him at this _ungodly_ hour? His phone is ringing loudly and Jinyoung shifts onto his back before peeling his phone out of his pocket. He’s not very awake, but he’s conscious enough to mumble: “Who is it?”

“Jinyoung-ah.” It’s his manager. Jinyoung’s eyes fly open and he checks the clock. It’s only 7 am, why is his manager calling him now? His question is answered soon enough. “Did you see the article I sent you?”

“No, what’s it about?” He asks and he can’t keep the annoyance out of his voice. He could’ve slept for a little while longer. What was so important about a damn news article?

“Read it and call me back.” His manager instructs and then he hangs up.

Jinyoung doesn’t want to read right now, his mind is still recovering from being so rudely awakened by the loud ringtone. Still, it seems to be important so Jinyoung takes a look at the message. There’s a link to an article on a website focused on celebrity gossip. 

He doesn’t know what to expect. He decides to just get it over with and so he clicks on the link. The first thing Jinyoung sees is a picture of himself and Mark. They’re pressed flush together and their lips— The phone falls out of his hand. Luckily, it lands on his bed rather than on the floor. 

_No._ He thinks. _No, no, no. This can’t be happening._ Jinyoung shakes his head and quickly grabs his phone again, scanning through the article. It’s based on that damned teenage girl’s fan account about meeting him at the coffee shop. She saw them together. She saw _everything_. 

Mark. He checks his messages and finds a text from the blond in his inbox. **[Got home safely. And for in a couple of hours: fighting!]**

Jinyoung’s heart feels like it’s going to burst out of his chest. Mark didn’t forget. He’d messaged him and now Jinyoung’s celebrity status had outed Mark and— and what if Mark hates him now?

He presses number three on speed dial and gets connected with his manager again.

“Did you read it?” The man asks him and Jinyoung wants to hide from the world, but he knows he can’t. He has work to do today. He has a freaking _musical_ to prepare for. This can’t be the end of his world. And this can’t be the reason he loses Mark. 

Mark, who’d only just confessed his feelings to him. Mark, who didn’t deserve any of this publicity. 

Jinyoung sighs: “I should’ve been more careful.”

It’s quiet for a while and right now, Jinyoung _hates_ the silence. His manager seems to need a few seconds (if not minutes) to process all of this, then the man speaks up: “We’ll go ahead with today’s schedule as planned. We can talk about how to fix this later.”

His manager disconnects their call again and Jinyoung feels like crying. He doesn’t understand how he was happy and carefree just a few hours ago. 

Maybe that’s it. Maybe it’s his carelessness that has gotten him into this mess. And Mark… Mark’s face is now linked to his own forever. Mark is now linked to this scandal and Jinyoung doesn’t _want_ it to be a scandal. It doesn’t feel like it _should_ be a scandal, but it is… and there’s very little Jinyoung can do about that.

Jackson. He needs Jackson’s advice. He needs Jackson to laugh at how worried he is and tell him that it isn’t such a big deal. Jinyoung is just about to press down on his speed dial option for Jackson, when he realizes that Jackson is abroad right now. He’s not in Korea, or in China for that matter.

Bambam, then! But the younger is in Thailand at the moment, which means it’s about 5 am where he is. Bambam is definitely asleep and Jinyoung is not about to wake him with a phone call.

No, he’ll just have to get through his alone. He can do this. He can manage alone, if only for the next hour, until his manager arrives. He’ll call Mark later, once they’ve made a plan on how to tackle this. Once he knows how they’re going to deal with is, he can call Mark and tell him not to worry. He’ll tell him that everything is going to be fine and that he’s sorry and—

_God_ , he’s a mess right now. He needs a shower. Desperately. 

Jinyoung pads over to his bathroom and doesn’t even bother to turn on the hot water. A cold shower will do him good, he thinks. Even if it doesn’t wake him up, at least it stings enough to keep his mind occupied. This way he doesn’t have to think about _that_. This way he can’t think about anything but how the water hits his back harshly, how the cold envelops him and how it’s getting harder to breathe.

He rests his head against the tiles on the wall, wishing that he could disappear. He doesn’t know how to deal with this. This could kill his career, but… what’s worse is that it could kill his relationship with Mark. Jinyoung doesn’t want to lose him.

His heart aches when he thinks about Mark’s bright smile and loud laugh. It’s funny how he’s so open and happy when he’s also quiet and shy. This contradiction in Mark’s personality makes that Jinyoung only loves him more and right now he hates himself for being an actor. He hates himself for being famous and therefore being unable to enjoy the simple things in life, like _loving someone_. 

It hurts. 

Everything hurts and everything feels cold. He doesn’t know how long he’s been standing in the shower for exactly, but eventually Jinyoung gets out of the shower and dries himself. When he’s getting dressed, he’s actually not sure if he’s hurting anymore. He’s surprised to find that a numb feeling has spread through his body. Jinyoung isn’t sure if that should worry him, but he decides that maybe being numb is the best way for him to get through this day. And he needs to get through the day.

The doorbell signals his manager’s arrival and Jinyoung opens up. He lets the man into his home. He pushes some things in his bag. Things he might need today, since it’ll be a very long day of practice, along with some more promotion of his drama in the evening. His manager is standing in his living room, not doing anything.

“So are you gay?” The guy asks and Jinyoung freezes.

“Uh, no… I— No.” He mumbles in reply.

“Then what?” His manager snaps at him and Jinyoung stares down at the sweatpants he was just trying to push into his bag. “We worked so hard these last few months, Jinyoung-ah. How can you be intimate with a man in public? How can you jeopardize everything we’ve worked for? I don’t get it! If you’re not gay, then what? Were you just bored? Were you drunk?”

“No! No… it’s nothing like that.” Jinyoung’s hands have turned into fists around the fabric of the pants he was still holding. He’s never had to do this before. He’s never come out like this before. “I’m bisexual. And I knew what I was doing… I—I just didn’t think… I didn’t realize she saw. I didn’t think anyone would see.”

“You were in a _coffee shop_.” His manager says. He sounds tired and incredibly annoyed, as if he can’t believe that Jinyoung could do something so stupid. “At an _airport_.”

“I know.” The actor mutters. He still hasn’t had the guts to look at his manager. “I know, hyung. I’m sorry.” 

“Let’s just go.”

Jinyoung nods and follows his manager out of his apartment and into the van. Once he’s seated, he leans back in the chair. He knows the drive’s a short one, so he can’t allow himself to fall asleep. Instead, he plays around on his phone a little. He really wants to contact Mark, but he imagines the guy needs his rest. Especially now that he knows about the fact that Mark has difficulty getting to sleep.

They arrive at the rehearsal space and Jinyoung is informed that he’ll meet the choreographer today. He’s really not in the mood to have to give a good first impression. He’s just here to do what he’s supposed to do and then he can hide out at home. He really wants to hide from the entire world.

When he walks into the practice room, he heads over to Yugyeom. He forces himself to smile, because he doesn’t want the younger to worry about his well-being. Maybe he’s already seen the article, but there’s a big chance that he hasn’t.

“Hey!” He says, taking a seat on the floor next to him, “You still nervous about today?”

“A little bit.” Yugyeom admits.

Jinyoung reaches over to squeeze Yugyeom’s shoulder. “You’ll do fine. I know you will. Where’s the choreographer anyway?”

“He’s not here yet.” The younger says while shrugging. “Maybe he’s just a little late?”

In the end, they’re told that the choreographer couldn’t make it due to extenuating circumstances. So Jinyoung gets to go home earlier.

By now it’s almost noon and Jinyoung figures he’ll try to call Mark. He dials the guy’s number and presses the phone to his ear. Honestly, he has no idea what he’s supposed to say to Mark. Jinyoung’s not sure if he’s disappointed or relieved when Mark doesn’t answer. Instead, he gets connected to his voice mail.

When Jinyoung’s home, he tries to call Mark again. Voice mail, but this time Jinyoung decides to leave a message: “Hyung, this is Jinyoung. I— I don’t know if you’ve read the news article about us, but… but I’m going to try to fix it. Please call me back when you get this.”

He’ll have to promote his drama this evening, but that doesn’t mean he can’t take this unexpected spare time to catch up on some sleep. Jinyoung crawls back onto his bed. The actor falls asleep after tossing and turning a while. He has his phone clutched in his hands, hoping that Mark will return his call soon.

After about two hours of sleep, Jinyoung wakes up. He hasn’t slept as comfortably as he’d hoped. Jinyoung checks his phone and finds nothing: no messages from Mark. No missed calls from him. The actor sighs and heads to the kitchen, grabbing himself something to drink. He’s worried about Mark. He needs to know if Mark hates him now. He needs to know how badly he’s messed up.

**[Hyung, did you read the article? I’m so sorry. Please send me a text message or just call me. I need to know if we’re okay… if you’re okay.]**

Jinyoung wishes he could do more, but he doesn’t know what to do. He feels like an idiot for putting both himself and Mark into this position. What can he do, if Mark doesn’t answer his calls or text messages? How can he fix this?

He doesn’t know, and it feels awful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I really wanted to upload this before tomorrow, because tomorrow I'll officially start my internship at a publishing house and I don't know how this will affect when I post updates. I have a clear view of what I want for the upcoming few chapters though, so that should make writing slightly easier.
> 
> This chapter was slightly longer and a bit more angsty as well. I hope you guys enjoyed it regardless!


	10. Give Me Some Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Mark's pint of view again!

Mark blinks, bleary-eyed, against the bright sun that’s shining through a crack in the curtains. He turns his back to the window and tries to get some more sleep.

It’s Youngjae who wakes him, by knocking on his door. “Hyung? There’s something you need to see.”

The tone in the younger’s voice is enough to make Mark worry, so it’s not all that hard for him to get out of bed and open up. “What is it?”

“It’s this.” Youngjae mumbles and he shows Mark an article on a gossip website. The first thing Mark sees is Jinyoung, but soon enough he recognizes himself as the man in the actor’s arms.

Mark takes the phone from Youngjae’s hands and reads the article. Then he reads some of the comments and the phone almost slips out of his hand. He quickly pushes it back into his flatmate’s grip and he closes the door, slamming it in Youngjae’s face.

He’s shaking. He can barely breathe. Mark allows himself to take a seat on the floor. His back is pressed against the door and he hears Youngjae knock again.

“Hyung?” He calls. “Hyung, it’s alright. It’s just a stupid article. You don’t have to be ashamed…” 

The American barely registers what his housemate is saying. He buries his face in his hands. His hands are trembling. Tears are stinging in his eyes. He momentarily wishes that he’d never even met Jinyoung in the first place, but he soon pushes that thought out of his head. 

His throat feels restricted and all he can think of is… _not again_.

“If you don’t open up soon, I’m going to call Jaebum-hyung!” Youngjae warns, but Mark isn’t listening.

This can’t be happening. Why is this happening? He knows that it’s only a matter of time before someone reads the comment that gave everyone his full name. And with his name, they are able to find every little thing that he’s tried to escape from by coming to Korea. Mark figured that Korea was far away enough from America for his past not to haunt him. Apparently, he was wrong.

He feels as if the earth is breaking apart underneath him, ready to swallow him whole. Mark doesn’t want Jinyoung to find out, he doesn’t want anyone to find out... He’s been trying to forget, but it seems like the world is hell-bent on making him remember.

Mark has no idea how long it takes for him to get his breathing under control. He feels exhausted and he wishes he could just not exist until all of this is over.

He vaguely hears the sound of the doorbell and the muffled voices of Youngjae and what seems to be JB. He doesn’t know when Youngjae called the guy, but he’s not exactly pleased with this turn of events. But he just needs to keep breathing. He just needs to get through the day.

There’s a short knock on the door. “Mark, open up.” It’s Jaebum.

It sounds like an order, but Mark doesn’t listen. He doesn’t want anyone to see him like this. Although he can breathe a little better now, he’s still a wreck. He doesn’t want to have to explain why that article got to him so much, he doesn’t want them to know the reason why he left America in such a hurry. He just want to stay Mark. Plain old Mark, who doesn’t stand out and doesn’t draw attention to himself.

Well, now he isn’t ordinary anymore, is he? He’s dating a beautiful, talented and famous actor. And he’s been spotted kissing this amazing guy in public. His life is going to be anything but ordinary from now on. For the second time that day, Mark wonders if it wouldn’t have been better if he’d never met Jinyoung. He quickly shakes off that horrible idea. No, he’s incredibly happy to have Jinyoung in his life, even if this is the price he has to pay to keep him.

Jaebum knocks again and tries the door. It opens a little bit, but it hits Mark’s back softly. “Move over. Let me in.”

There’s no winning from this guy, Mark knows. Jaebum is too stubborn to let this go, so Mark shifts. The brunet is able to squeeze inside and he closes the door behind him. He takes a seat on the floor next to Mark and looks him over quietly.

“Youngjae called me in panic.” Jaebum explained after a few seconds of silence. His voice is soft, as if he doesn’t want to disturb the still atmosphere around Mark. “He said he showed you an article—”

Mark nods and tries not to think about what the article had been about. Him and Jinyoung, kissing…

“He’s worried about you.”

He nods again. Mark doesn’t trust his voice right now.

“I read the article.” Jaebum informs him. “And while I can understand that you wouldn’t want to be outed like this, I think there’s another reason as to why you reacted in this way.”

It’s easier to shrug his shoulders than to actually answer the question hidden in Jaebum’s statement.

“I want you to know that I’m here for you, if you need to talk about it.”

Mark has been staring at his hands throughout this entire conversation. He doesn’t dare to look at JB, for fear of breaking down again. He doesn’t know what to tell the guy. Part of him wants to keep his past hidden, but maybe… maybe Jaebum can be trusted. Maybe he can finally have someone that he can confide in about the things he struggles with on a daily basis.

The entire dance crew already knows that performing is out of the question for him. So Jaebum also knows. Mark won’t get up on stage. Even now, he feels the panic rise in his chest by just thinking about it.

“I’m sorry.” JB tells him.

The blond shifts and leans against Jaebum a little. “Me too.”

He knows that he sounds like shit, but he also knows that Jaebum will appreciate his reply. Even if it’s quiet and even if it doesn’t mean much of anything.

They sit like that for what seems like hours. Eventually Mark’s muscles starts to ache and he knows that JB probably feels the same. So he gets up and reaches out to the brunet to tug him up onto his feet.

“What are you going to do?” Jaebum asks when they’re standing in front of each other.

“I need a shower.” It’s not an answer to his question, even though it sounds like it is.

JB smiles. “Alright. I’m going to tell Youngjae that you’ll be fine. Because you will be fine, right?”

Mark nods, even though he’s not entirely sure about it.

“Good.” And with that, Jaebum leaves his room.

It’s not hard to overhear the conversation between JB and Youngjae, but Mark tries not to listen. Instead, he grabs a clean towel and heads to the bathroom.

He doesn’t know that Jaebum and Youngjae have left to walk Coco. It’s only when he’s dressed and heading into the kitchen to grab some breakfast, that he realises that they aren’t home.

Somehow that’s a relief. It means that he doesn’t have to pretend to be less affected by the release of the article than he is.

Mark decides to call his boss and request a couple of days off. The conversation takes about ten minutes. Eventually they agree that he won’t have to come into work for the next week or so.

A weight is lifted of Mark’s shoulders. From the tone in his boss’s voice, he can tell that the man has seen the article. Maybe he’s seen even more than that. Luckily the man decided not to mention it to Mark. And Mark is grateful for this.

For now, he just wants to hide out at home and wait for the storm to blow over. He hates being the centre of attention. He knows hiding is a bad reflex in a situation like this, but anything else is just going to freak him out more.

He can still feel the stress in his muscles, even after the warm shower. Mark grabs along some food and water and pointedly decides to hide out in his room for the rest of the day.

When he enters the bedroom, he notices that his phone is ringing. He checks the caller ID: it’s Jinyoung. He’s probably seen the article. Maybe he even looked him up online. That alone is enough to render Mark breathless. So however badly Mark wants to answer the phone, he knows that he can’t. Instead, he waits for the call to be sent to voicemail.

Mark feels awful for not answering. He knows that by ditching Jinyoung’s call, he might end up ruining their relationship, but if he answers— He can’t tell Jinyoung about his past. At least not yet. He’ll call him back later. Although later might become tomorrow or the day after. Mark doesn’t know when he’ll be ready.

It breaks his heart to see the missed call notification. He knows this is bad. He knows he’s making bad decisions, but they’re not all that bad when you consider his mental and emotional state. Answering Jinyoung’s call right now would mean that he breaks down and that won’t help the actor either. So, if you consider it, he’s actually doing Jinyoung a favour... right?

He’s not sure. Mark isn’t sure about anything right now. He locks the door to his bedroom and allows himself to sink to the floor. It doesn’t take long for him to be gasping for air between sobs. Tears are running down his cheeks and he angrily rubs them off. He doesn’t want to cry. He doesn’t want to feel like his world is slowly closing in on him, but he does.

Even though the sun is shining outside, Mark can’t see the light. He’s surrounded by darkness. The pitch black colour of his past overshadowing the brightness of Jinyoung’s presence in his life.

He doesn’t hear Youngjae and Jaebum return. He doesn’t notice the knocks on his door or their worried voices telling him to please come out. He doesn’t remember that JB actually had to work today or that Youngjae has an exam coming up that he really has to study for.

He’s being swallowed by the dark, unable to crawl his way out.

***

When Mark wakes up the next morning, he feels a little better (emphasis on ‘a little’). He doesn’t dare to check his phone yet and instead settles on heading to the kitchen and making himself some food.

JB and Youngjae are sitting on the couch in the living room. Youngjae’s head is resting on Jaebum’s lap.

Mark feels a pang of guilt. From the sight of them, he can tell that they barely slept. He isn’t sure when he managed to drift off himself, but he’s glad that he did.

“Morning.” He says and Jaebum looks up.

“Hey, how are you doing?”

A shrug is enough of a reply according to Mark. “You?” He asks.

JB smiles and shrugs his shoulders as well.

“I’m sorry.” Mark tells him and Jaebum just nods once. 

That’s enough of a conversation for Mark. At least for now it is. He makes himself some breakfast and takes a seat at the table. Youngjae is still sleeping and he can see how Jaebum gently threads his fingers through the younger’s hair.

Mark knows he’s been an awful friend since yesterday, so when he’s finished eating his own breakfast, he makes Jaebum and Youngjae something to eat too. He brings them both a bowl of food and he gently shakes Youngjae’s shoulder.

The younger looks up at him and blinks a few times. “Hyung?” He sounds confused and Mark offers him his best attempt at an apologetic smile. Youngjae looks from the food up to him again and he takes the bowl. “Thank you!”

He feels incredibly relieved when he sees Youngjae’s tired, but excited smile. He digs in and Mark notices that JB’s gaze lingers on the younger for a while before he also starts eating.

“Enjoy.” Mark says with a smile. He wanders off into his bedroom again and checks his phone, only to find several missed calls from Jinyoung. A few texts too, and Mark’s heart sinks in his chest.

It takes him a good few minutes to get through all the voice mails and messages from the actor. In the end he’s too busy trying to figure out whether he should call or text him - what was he even supposed to say? – and he doesn’t hear the doorbell ring.

“Mark-hyung?” There’s a knock on his door and he looks up. He nearly has a heart attack when he sees Jinyoung standing behind Youngjae. “You have a visitor.” 

Youngjae quickly walks off. He heads to JB, who decides that the two of them will go take Coco out for a walk now. If only to give Mark and Jinyoung some privacy.

Meanwhile, Jinyoung is rubbing his hand over the back of his neck nervously. He looks like he hasn’t slept at all. When he finally speaks up, his voice is quiet: “You didn’t answer my calls or texts… I—I spent all night trying to find your apartment… are you okay?”

He’s speechless. He can’t breathe enough and when he tries to talk, nothing comes out. The lump in his throat makes it impossible for him to speak. Jinyoung walks over hesitantly and takes a seat next to him.

“I’m sorry.” The actor says, “This is all my fault.”

Mark manages to shake his head before resting it on Jinyoung’s shoulder. He’s surprised how much better he feels when Jinyoung’s arms wrap around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked it, even though it was angsty!  
> Please do tell me wat you think by leaving a comment or something :)


	11. Are You Free Tonight?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to upload it sooner, but with my internship and some other stuff that came up, I wasn't able to. Sorry :((  
> But! Mark's mysterious past is finally revealed! Are you guys curious?

Mark is glad that Jinyoung doesn’t seem to hate him for not answering the many calls and messages he received. Maybe the fact that he still hasn’t been able to utter a single word is enough explanation as to why he couldn’t answer Jinyoung’s phone calls.

It’s been about fifteen minutes since the actor suddenly arrived at his apartment. “You met Youngjae.” Mark finally manages to mumble, albeit very quietly.

“I did.” Jinyoung smiles, looking down to him. “Are you feeling a little better?”

Mark nods, “I’m sorry, I just didn’t expect you to come over...”

“I was worried. You generally reply to my text messages rather quickly. I had no idea how you would feel, seeing the article about us. I know it’s all my fault… and I promise that I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

“You don’t have to make it up to me,” Mark assures him, “We’re fine. I’m just— I didn’t think something like this would happen again.”

Jinyoung is silent. He looks down to Mark and his brows furrow into a small frown. It takes a good few seconds before he asks: “Again?”

Mark’s eyes widen slightly and he meets Jinyoung’s gaze. He quickly looks away. Mark fumbles with his fingers, presses his lips together tightly and shrugs.

“You don’t have to tell me. I'm sorry.”

“What? You— you don’t know yet?” Mark can barely believe that that’s true.

“No?” Jinyoung says hesitantly. “What am I supposed to know?”

“The things that happened in America...”

“I... How am I supposed to know about that?” Jinyoung doesn't seem to realize that just searching his name is enough to uncover all that has happened.

“I just— I thought you found out... I thought that was why you decided to come here.”

Jinyoung shakes his head. “I came here because... Well, I thought you might not like me anymore, because of the publicity. And I really— I just really didn't want to lose you.”

Mark stares up to Jinyoung, with his eyes widened slightly. “What?” He whispers, unsure if he heard any of that correctly.

“I don't know, I just... I really like spending time with you and I'd hate for you to stop hanging out with me because of the gossip and everything. I'll take care of all of that... or at least I'll try to.”

He tries to breathe in and out normally, but it's kind of hard. He can't believe that Jinyoung cares so much about him. Mark isn't sure what to do now. He has to somehow convey how much he cares about Jinyoung too, right?

“Jinyoung... I'm scared that if you know what happened in America, you'll...” He cuts himself off, unsure how to finish his sentence.

The younger watches him. He reaches out to curl their hands together and Mark gladly intertwines their fingers. “I can't promise that our relationship won't change, because I have no idea what kind of burden you're carrying... but I wish you feel safe enough to confide in me. I care for you, and I don't think that'll change very easily.”

Mark nods a little. “Thank you.” He mumbles.

“Please talk to me when you're ready, okay?” Jinyoung pushes gently, as if he knew that right now Mark was anything but ready.

“Okay.” He agrees and he smiles up to the beautiful actor who's stolen his heart so easily.

Jinyoung gently cups his face and they kiss. It's soft and sweet and it makes Mark feel infinitely better.

“So…” The younger prompts when their lips part again. “What are we going to do now?”

Mark shrugs his shoulders. “I don't know.”

The brunet stifles a yawn and it makes Mark smile: “Maybe you should catch up on sleep a little?”

“Hm...” Jinyoung hums. Mark gently pulls him along as he lies down on his bed. The younger curls up in his arms and it only takes seconds before he drifts off.

The poor guy really must've searched for his apartment all night. Mark leans in to press his lips to Jinyoung's slightly messy, black hair. Honestly, despite everything, he feels incredibly lucky to have met him and to have become so close with him.

If Mark could choose, he would pick Jinyoung again, without second thought. Even if it meant these events unfolded the same. It was worth it. Jinyoung is worth it.

He lets the younger sleep. It takes a few hours before Mark slowly pulls away from Jinyoung. He pads over to the kitchen and makes them something to eat. The actor is still unconscious when he returns, but Mark decides it might be best to wake him. He doesn't want Jinyoung to not be able to sleep tonight.

“Jinyoung-ah.” He says, gently shaking the guy's shoulder. “Wake up.”

Mark chuckles to himself when Jinyoung pulls the covers over his face and mumbles something along the lines of 'five more minutes'.

“Yah!” He raises his voice only slightly, shaking the actor again. “I made food!”

Jinyoung seems to slowly come to his senses. He peeks to Mark through his lashes. “Food?” He asks, his voice laced with sleep.

“Yeah, food.” Mark laughs at how adorable this guy is. “It's in the kitchen. C'mon.”

When he extents his hands to Jinyoung, the younger accepts. He pulls the guy upright and steals a kiss before leading Jinyoung to the kitchen table.

“Oh my god.” The actor breathes out when he sees the generous amount of food Mark prepared. “You're an actual angel.”

Mark laughs and shakes his head. Still, he remembers Jinyoung saying something like this before. When they were at Jinyoung’s apartment and he'd made breakfast. Apparently, providing Jinyoung with food makes you an angel in his eyes.

“I'm serious!” Jinyoung pouts, “Don't laugh at me!”

That only makes Mark laugh louder, which results in Jinyoung hitting his shoulder until the younger finally gives up. Mark is still chuckling when they start to eat.

“You suck.” The actor tells him.

He shrugs casually. “If you don't want to be laughed at, then stop being funny.”

“I wasn't being funny though!”

“Let's agree to disagree.” Mark grins, glad to see the crinkles appear around Jinyoung's eyes again as he smiles.

“Fine.” The younger agrees, as he pretends to be grumpy about it.

“Fine!” Mark says, his grin only broadening.

***

Jaebum and Youngjae return after they spent almost all day out of the apartment. Coco seems to be absolutely exhausted, and honestly, the same goes for JB and Youngjae.

Still, they brought dinner and Jinyoung gets to meet both of them. Mark is actually surprised with how nice Jaebum is being. He isn't as grumpy as usual. Mark wonders briefly if it might be Youngjae's cheerful personality rubbing off on the elder, but he isn't sure.

He only wonders briefly, because Jinyoung is seated next to him and Mark somehow manages to still be flabbergasted by his presence and beauty and proximity to him and friendliness to his very normal, very not-famous friends.

The actor looks up to him and smiles his stunningly bright smile and Mark feels as if the air is being pushed out of his lungs, but then in a positive way, rather than the uncomfortable one.

“You've got something—” Jinyoung says, before cutting himself off and reaching out to wipe some sauce off the corner of Mark’s mouth.

“Sorry.” Mark blushes and looks down to his food.

Youngjae and Jaebum are too engrossed in their own conversation to notice the ridiculously cliché and extremely embarrassing scene unfolding right in front of them. So Mark counts himself lucky.

When they finish eating, Youngjae and Jaebum settle on the couch to watch some TV show that they both enjoy. Jinyoung and Mark are left behind with a load of dishes to do.

However hard Mark tries to excuse Jinyoung from the duty of doing the dishes, the younger won't budge and insists that he can lend a hand.

“Fine.” Mark says, pretending to be grumpy about it.

“Fine!” Jinyoung replies with a smile.

And so they do the dishes, splashing water at each other and over-all just being their annoying selves.

When the night falls, they cuddle up under Mark's covers. Jinyoung rests his head on Mark's chest and the elder threads his fingers through his boyfriend's hair. Or at least, he's pretty sure they are together. They are, right?

“Mark-hyung?” Jinyoung's voice is soft and beautiful and Mark is incredibly happy to have him around tonight.

“Hm?” He hums in reply.

“Can I tell people that we're dating?”

Mark remains silent for a while. “What sort of people?” He asks tentatively.

“Just my friends, my manager... I won't tell my fans, I wouldn't want to add oil to that fire...”

“Oh. Okay, yeah. That's alright. We're dating.” Mark stammers awkwardly and he sees Jinyoung smile against his chest.

“Good.”

Mark hums again.

“Hyung? Are you okay again?” Jinyoung asks quietly.

“Yeah. Don't worry, Jinyoung-ah. I’m okay.” Mark rubs his fingers over the actor's scalp, massaging it softly.

“Will you tell me what happened in America one day?” The younger mumbles. Mark imagines that this question has been on Jinyoung's mind ever since he mentioned that _something_ happened.

“I'll tell you now.” Mark says, although he feels his chest clench at the idea of telling anyone – let alone Jinyoung.

“Okay.” Jinyoung agrees, squeezing Mark’s arm softly in support.

“When I was in America, I was a dancer.” He pauses, knowing that once he revealed something, he wouldn’t be able to take it back. Jinyoung would know everything and Mark has no idea how he’ll respond to this story. Mark never told anyone. His family already knows and when he came to Korea, he wanted to escape his past, rather than talk about it. “I was slowly making a name for myself. Me and my dance crew, we were doing well.”

“I didn’t know you were famous.” Jinyoung mumbles.

Mark looks over to him and smiles a little: “You weren’t supposed to know. I didn’t tell anyone.”

“So… what happened?” The younger asks. Mark can see that he’s curious. Then again, anyone would be.

“During an interview, I revealed that I wasn’t straight. I talked about how I’d been attracted to men most of my life and that I identified as pansexual.” He muttered, making sure to look anywhere but to Jinyoung. They never did talk about their sexualities.

“I’m bi.” Jinyoung told him, brushing his hand over Mark’s arm.

The elder nods before he continues: “I didn’t expect all the negative comments… I thought that, at least in America, I could be free to say that my sexuality was other than straight and still be accepted… I was wrong…”

When Mark doesn’t get a verbal response from Jinyoung, he carries on. “During one of our shows, I had a solo performance. They threw stuff at me. Mostly water bottles. Some of the bottles were opened, so the stage got wet. And with the water on stage— I was just doing some martial arts tricking and— And I slipped.”

He hears Jinyoung gasp for air softly. “Were you okay?”

“I had a dislocated arm, which really isn’t so bad. It could’ve been a lot worse, but… they were laughing at me. Everyone was laughing at me…” He closes his eyes tightly, trying to keep his breathing under control, trying not to let his emotions from years ago overwhelm him again. He hates remembering this. He hates telling Jinyoung this, but he knows it has to be done. “I haven’t been on a stage since.”

“I’m so sorry…” Jinyoung tells him, leaning in to press a soft kiss to Mark’s hair. “You didn’t deserve any of that. No one deserves that…”

“Some of the videos that were made went viral.” Mark whispered.

For a second, he’s unsure if Jinyoung even heard him, but then he’s being pulled into a tight hug and Jinyoung keeps him there. 

“I’m sorry.” Jinyoung sounds like he’s almost crying and all Mark can think of is that at least both of them have tears stinging in their eyes now. “I can only imagine how being in the news now made you feel. It’s all my fault, I should never have kissed you in public, I should never have let my guard down when we were joking and laughing—”

“Yah.” Mark cuts him off and he makes Jinyoung look up at him. “I don’t regret kissing you. I don’t regret any of this. It’s just hard for me to deal with, but I will deal with it.”

“You shouldn’t have to, though.” The actor whines quietly, obviously still feeling awful for what Mark went through.

“None of this is your fault, you hear me?” Mark says. “I knew that you were an actor. I knew that you were famous.”

“You thought I was a model.” Jinyoung giggles.

“Yeah,” Mark grins back at him. “Yeah, I did.”

“And I thought you were just a normal guy, but you aren’t.” Jinyoung then whispered, rubbing his thumb over Mark’s cheekbone softly.

“No, I guess I’m not.” The elder agrees, a small smile still playing on his lips. At least Jinyoung knows now.

“Hyung?”

Mark hums.

“I still love you.”

His eyes widen slightly. It takes a good few minutes before he breaks the silence that has fallen between them. “I love you too, Jinyoung-ah.”

The bright smile Jinyoung sends him is enough to make anyone fall in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me your thoughts on this chapter! I love reading your comments, honestly. So please send me a lot of them :P


	12. I Want To Go To You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seems like weekly updates are all I can manage right now. I hope you guys enjoy!

Jinyoung wakes up at around 4:30 am, because Mark is shaking. For a good few minutes, he has no idea what to do. The elder is clearly having a nightmare, but he’s not sure if waking him up will do much good. Instead, he wraps his arms around the man, holding him against his chest and whispering soothing things in his ear.

He’s not sure at that point whether to speak English or Korean, so he tries both. In the end, Jinyoung talks to Mark in a weird combination of the two languages when Mark finally calms down. Honestly, Jinyoung doesn’t feel very comfortable when he speaks English. He just doesn’t think his English pronunciation is very good at all.

“That’s right, hyung.” He mumbles to Mark as he strokes his blond hair, “You’re okay. You’re safe with me.” Although that was up for debate.

After all, he’s the one who reminded Mark of his past. His fan outed Mark again and that had affected the elder considerably. So even though Jinyoung’s glad that Mark doesn’t blame him for it, he can’t help but blame himself.

In the end, Jinyoung manages to fall asleep again, with Mark still tucked safely in his arms.

When he opens his eyes, he sees the empty space in bed next to him and Jinyoung feels a little disappointed that he can’t cuddle with Mark a little more. He rubs his eyes and stretches. A soft groan escapes him as he slowly begins to wake up.

Once he feels like he’s lingered in bed long enough (so about five minutes later), he gets up and walks out of Mark’s room. In the living room, he finds Mark’s friend and housemate curled up together on the sofa, still fast asleep. He assumes that their backs will be killing them by the time they wake up.

Jinyoung heads over to the kitchen and watches as Mark is making him something to eat, again. “Oh my god...” He breathes out softly as he observes the way Mark cooks, “Can you stop being so angelic?”

Mark looks over to him and he smiles a shy smile. Jinyoung walks up to him and wraps his arms around Mark’s waist. “Bribing me with food again, are you?”

The elder laughs and hugs Jinyoung back. “If that’s what it takes to keep you by my side, then yes.”

“I’ll gladly stay here with you, even without the food. I don’t understand how you haven’t reali—” Jinyoung is cut off by the ringing of his phone. He pulls away and retrieves the device from his bag. “Sorry.” He tells Mark, before answering the call from his manager.

As soon as he has the phone pressed to his ear, he regrets it. His manager is shouting: “Where the hell are you? You were supposed to go on the morning radio!” 

Jinyoung cringes. Shit, he forgot about that.

“Hyung, I’m sorry. I— My boyfriend needed me...” He stammers weakly.

“I don’t care who needed you!” His manager yells and Jinyoung whimpers at the force in his voice. “If we agree to an 8 am interview on the radio, you better be awake and home well before that, so that I can take you to the station! So where are you now, huh? It’s 10 am already! I called you over fifteen times, Jinyoung! Fifteen times!”

The actor rubs at his face weakly. He nods a little. “I know, hyung. I made a mistake. It won’t happen again. I promise.” He whispers.

“It better not!” His manager tells him, “Now come home, we have work to do.”

“Yes. I’ll be right there, hyung. I’m so, so sorry.”

His manager hangs up and Jinyoung stands there, frozen, with the phone slightly removed from his ear.

Mark steps closer, gently placing his hands on Jinyoung’s shoulders. The younger can vaguely hear him ask if he’s okay. He hears Mark ask what happened and Jinyoung just stares at him, feeling his knees give in a little. He knows that if it weren’t for Mark quickly wrapping his arm around his waist, he would’ve collapsed.

“Jinyoung?”

The younger blinks at Mark, slowly holding onto him and finding his balance again. “I... I missed my radio interview this morning. I forgot...”

“Oh no...” Mark sighs. He seems so lost. Jinyoung thinks he can recognise Mark’s expression at that point: he wants to help, but doesn’t know how to.

“Can you drive me home?” Jinyoung asks.

Mark quickly nods. 

They get dressed. Jinyoung doesn’t really understand why, but Mark puts part of the food he prepared in a lunch box. It’s only when the box is handed to him, when he realizes that Mark is still taking care of him, still providing him with food and urging him to get enough sleep. Even now, after all that’s happened, Mark still takes care of him.

“Thank you.” He mumbles, feeling shitty because he never helped Mark like this.

“Eat it while I drive you home. I’m sure you have a busy schedule today.” Mark instructs and Jinyoung nods. He’s excited to eat Mark’s food. Although they both admitted to being bad cooks, Mark is obviously the better cook between the two of them. And he doesn’t seem to mind making him breakfast at all.

“Jinyoung?” Mark says as he pulls out his the parking spot.

The younger looks up from his breakfast and hums, so that Mark will ask what he wants to ask.

“Why did it take you all night to find my apartment, when I took you here before?”

Jinyoung almost chokes on his bite of food. He quickly swallows before he laughs awkwardly. “Ah. Hyung, my sense of direction is really bad. So even though I was supposed to know where you live, I had a hard time finding it...”

Mark chuckles a little. “How long did it take for you to find my flat?”

He can’t help but blush and hide his face in his hands when he admits: “About four hours.”

“What?” Mark exclaims, “Why didn’t you give up, why didn’t you go home?”

“I was worried about us... I— I was terrified that I’d lose you.”

“We’re fine.” Mark assures him.

“Yeah, I know that now.” Jinyoung says with a smile.

The blond chuckles a little: “Good.”

Jinyoung is very impressed with how beautiful Mark is, even when he’s only driving him home. There’s a simplicity about being with Mark that Jinyoung missed in his previous relationships. Maybe that was also because the people he dated before were either female celebrities or boys he fooled around with a long time ago. 

Even though he’s been sure of his sexuality for a considerable amount of his life, he’s never had to actually come out of the closet. Now Jinyoung thinks that he might have to come out as bi. His kiss with Mark is too obvious to deny that they are involved, but maybe he could give them something else to talk about. So long as Mark is safe and happy, Jinyoung will be okay.

“Your manager seemed angry over the phone.” Mark’s voice interrupts Jinyoung’s train of thought.

“He was.”

“Do you want me to go inside with you? That way you won’t be alone...” The elder offers and Jinyoung wonders why the universe decided to bless him with someone as amazing as Mark.

“Thank you, but I’ll be okay, hyung. You don’t have to worry.”

“It just doesn’t feel right that you’ll get yelled at because of me.” Mark mumbles softly.

“What do you mean, because of you?” Jinyoung shakes his head. “This isn’t because of you. This was my decision.”

“You came over to comfort me, though.” The man retorts.

“And it was my decision to stay. And it’s my fault I forgot. You didn’t even know about the radio interview.” Jinyoung tells him firmly.

Mark just sighs in response, clearly still blaming himself.

It isn’t long after, that Jinyoung starts to recognize the surroundings as his neighbourhood. He really wishes that he could stay with Mark forever, and Mark with him. But unfortunately they can’t. So when Mark parks his car in front of Jinyoung’s place, the younger stays seated for a little while longer: he doesn’t want to go yet.

“I’m glad we’re okay.” Jinyoung says and he reaches out to thread his fingers through Mark’s hair softly.

Mark smiles: “I’m glad we’re okay too.”

Just when Jinyoung is about to brush their lips together, he hears a knock on the car window and he jerks away almost immediately.

His manager knocks on the window again and Jinyoung closes his eyes tightly, resting his head against Mark’s shoulder for about a second before he pulls back with a sigh.

“Jinyoung—” Mark catches his hand and stops him from leaving the car. Jinyoung looks over and smiles to him, squeezing his hand softly.

“I’ll be okay, hyung. It’s just my manager.” He assures Mark, leaning in to steal a brief kiss before getting out of the car. He keeps the door open and looks to Mark again. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Alright.” The elder agrees quietly.

Jinyoung sends him his brightest smile, in hopes that it’ll make Mark worry about him a little less. “Bye, hyung! Talk to you later.” And with that, he closes the door of the car.

When he turns to face his manager, he has some trouble reading the man's expression.

"That guy's your boyfriend?" His manager asks him.

Jinyoung doesn't know what his manager expected about him not being heterosexual. Especially when you consider the fact that he got caught kissing with Mark before. But the man doesn't seem to have expected this.

"Yes, that's Mark." He replies, looking over when Mark’s car pulls out of the parking space and Jinyoung waves the elder goodbye excitedly.

"Jinyoung-ah..." The manager starts, but Jinyoung cuts him off.

"Hyung, what's my schedule for today? And maybe we can agree to do another interview on the radio, say… tomorrow morning? Tell them that I didn't feel well last night and that I slept so badly that I slept through my alarms this morning?" Jinyoung knows that he's never missed an interview before. He's punctual and when he agrees to do something, he does it. It's as simple as that. So he doesn't doubt that the people at the radio station will believe him when he says that he didn't make it because he didn't feel well.

"Okay." His manager sighs.

They walk into Jinyoung's apartment and the younger quickly packs his bag for the rest of the long day ahead of him. He's not exactly excited to have a busy schedule, but at least he won't have time to miss Mark, right?

When he finally arrives back home at about 2:30 am, he knows that he's not going to call Mark. They should both just sleep and they'll talk to each other later. Still, he can't stop himself from writing the elder a text message.

**[Hyung, how was your day? Mine was super busy, so I'm going to sleep now. Goodnight!]**

Jinyoung doesn't take the time to wait for a reply, because once he's curled up in bed, he falls asleep within seconds.

The next few days, Jinyoung barely has the time to message Mark, let alone call him. By the end of the week, he's exhausted and upset. He feels lonely, he misses Mark, and he wishes that he doesn’t have so much to do. Still, they finally have another dance practice for the musical, which is long overdue since the previous one got cancelled.

Yugyeom is already stretching when Jinyoung enters. He sees Bambam stand next to him, casually talking about the outfits he's creating for the production. Bambam notices him first and Jinyoung walks over, forcing a smile on his lips.

"Hey, good morning." He says, before he follows Yugyeom's example and starts to stretch. While Jinyoung stretches, Bambam and Yugyeom continue their conversation and the elder can’t help but feel relieved that the two of them get along so well. He knows that Bambam felt troubled because he doesn’t have a lot of friends in Korea. Maybe this musical could ensure that Bambam will end up feeling less lonely.

A few minutes pass and the choreographer enters. Jinyoung nearly loses his balance when he sees who it is: Im Jaebum, Mark's friend.

It takes Jaebum only a few seconds to see and recognize Jinyoung as well, so he walks over.

"Ah, Bambam. Yugyeom. This is a Jaebum-hyung. Hyung, this is Yugyeom, he's one of the performers, and Bambam, who's in charge of the costumes." Jinyoung quickly introduces them all and Jaebum smiles at the younger two politely.

"Nice to meet you." He says, before turning his attention to Jinyoung. "I didn't know you were the male lead."

Jinyoung scratches the back of his neck, smiling to Jaebum a little. "I didn't know you were the choreographer. Last time when we had practice, you didn't show." 

The moment Jinyoung reminds himself of that time, suddenly something clicks. His eyes widen as he stares at JB.

"Hyung, the reason you cancelled last minute... was it because of Mark?"

Jaebum sighs and looks Jinyoung over briefly, as if he's trying to figure out what to tell him exactly. Eventually, he says: "Youngjae called me in panic, saying there was something wrong with Mark. I was on my way here, but I had to turn around."

Jinyoung nods a little, before he mumbles: "I'm sorry. It's all my fault."

The elder shakes his head and wraps his arm around Jinyoung's shoulders. "You didn't do anything wrong. Don't worry so much." His hair gets tousled by Jaebum and Jinyoung yelps, pulling away quickly.

"Yah!" He yells and Jaebum just laughs.

The choreographer saunters to the front of the room and claps his hands to get everybody's attention. "Alright, are we all done stretching?"

Bambam sneaks out of the room quietly, since he isn't one of the dancers for the musical.

"Let's get started then!" Jaebum declares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think? 
> 
> We're getting closer to the end of this story, although lately I've been worrying whether the amount of chapters left is enough... I hope it is. I have so many story ideas for when this one is finished!


	13. Hold You Tight

Lately, all Mark has been able to see of Jinyoung are the fan-taken pictures and videos of when he arrives at a venue he’s supposed to be at. It hurts to know that Jinyoung is so close to him, but still so far away. It hurts that Mark knows calling Jinyoung will only mean disturbing the man during his activities. And he doesn’t want that.

Mark has kept himself occupied by helping Jaebum with the choreography a little. They’ve been working on the details, trying out different routines with the rest of the crew, to see what sort of dances work and what dances don’t.

JB is actually the person who informed him of the fact that the choreography is for Jinyoung’s musical. Mark hasn’t had the time to discuss this fact with Jinyoung, but it’s only motivated Mark more to help Jaebum out and create something great.

Not that any of this changes the fact that Mark is currently looking at airport pictures of Jinyoung, because apparently the guy spent a couple of days in China for some show. The pictures are only previews, but he sees enough for now: Jinyoung is wearing a thick coat and a scarf, which is understandable since it’s been getting colder. He has a beige snapback on and he looks as beautiful as ever, except… that isn’t why Mark leans in to study the picture more closely.

No, something is wrong. It has to be. The grace and determination with which Jinyoung usually carries himself has vanished. The younger seems lost, his eyes seem sad.

Before Mark realizes what he’s doing, he’s grabbed his coat and house keys. He also takes along a surgical mask and his pink snapback, because he really doesn’t want to be recognized as Jinyoung’s... _someone_.

He drives to Incheon airport a little faster than actually allowed, not thinking about the fact that Jinyoung could be long gone by now. Mark can’t stand seeing Jinyoung upset. It hurts. It breaks his heart to even see a blurred preview picture of a sad Jinyoung, so he can only imagine what a real-life sad Jinyoung does to him. Although, that already happened. He’s already comforted Jinyoung when the younger was beating himself up. Mark has already embraced Jinyoung and calmed him down until he was okay again. He just needs to know what exactly is wrong with Jinyoung now, and then he’ll be able to help.

He parks sloppily and dashes out of his car. Mark is running, but he has no idea where he should be running to. Eventually he ends up panting and resting against the wall of the coffee shop he works at. Mark briefly contemplates shouting his boyfriend’s name in order to find him, when a hunched figure exits the coffee shop.

For a second, Mark’s brain refuses to register who it is. When he finally recognises the man as Jinyoung, he has to jog to catch up with him. Mark moves his arm around Jinyoung’s shoulders and the actor looks up to him.

“Hyung?” He asks, “What are you doing here?”

“I came to drive you home.” Mark just says, which isn’t at all why he drove to the airport in record time and ran around in search of the younger, but Jinyoung seems to accept it as the truth.

“Thank you.”

Mark heart breaks into a million pieces. Seeing Jinyoung so detached, so unlike himself, hurts him more than he can say. He feels the younger slump against him a little and Mark quietly ushers Jinyoung through the airport, to his car.

He fastens Jinyoung’s seatbelt and presses a gentle kiss to Jinyoung’s cheek. “You’re gonna be okay.” Mark promises, “Just try to sleep a little. I’ll take you home.”

While Mark takes a seat behind the steering wheel, Jinyoung curls up into himself. The American soon hears Jinyoung’s breathing even out.

He drives to Jinyoung’s place, making sure to drive as smoothly as possible, as to not wake the younger. Mark has no idea how much Jinyoung has been working lately, but he imagines it’s a lot.  
The blond pulls up in front of Jinyoung’s apartment and he gets out of the car. He takes the actor’s bag and searches for his keys. Mark feels incredibly relieved when he actually manages to find them.

First, he takes Jinyoung’s things inside and moves something in front of the front door to keep it open. Then he carefully lifts Jinyoung from his seat. He moves one arm under his legs and one arm around Jinyoung’s waist. Somehow he manages to get one of the younger’s arms around his shoulders. He shifts so that Jinyoung is pressed closer against him. Once Mark’s sure he has a firm grip on his sleeping boyfriend, he carries him into the apartment.

Relief washes over him when he manages to get Jinyoung to bed without waking the younger. Mark heads back to lock his car and close the front door. 

He checks on the actor (who’s sound asleep) once more before heading to the living room and making himself comfortable on the sofa.

Jinyoung must’ve worked really hard these last few months. Mark knows that he has a busy schedule and that they haven’t been able to hang out a lot lately, but if Jinyoung is this tired, then that means he’s being pushed too hard. The younger is so diligent. When he makes a promise, he keeps it. When something is asked of him, he does it. He should really learn to say no sometimes, to choose himself and his own well-being over his work.

Even without a schedule like Jinyoung’s, Mark manages to doze off. He’s still sitting on the sofa, his lips parted slightly and his head tilted to the side when a sleepy Jinyoung pads out of his bedroom.

A loving smile crosses Jinyoung’s face at the sight of Mark. He heads to the kitchen and looks in his cabinets until he finds the noodles he was looking for. Luckily he also has some of his mother’s kimchi in the fridge, so he knows that he’ll be able to surprise Mark with a nice meal.

Mark wakes to the spicy smell of Korean food. Or at least, the sort of Korean food he eats most, because it’s easy and he’s not a very good cook at all. His back is killing him, probably due to a combination of carrying Jinyoung into his apartment and sleeping while sitting up, rather than lying in bed.

“You’re awake!” Jinyoung exclaims and he quickly puts their noodles in two bowls. “Dinner’s just ready.”

As he gets up to join Jinyoung at the table, Mark is happily surprised that his back feels considerably better than he’d expected. He walks over to Jinyoung and rests his hand on the younger’s waist. He peers at their food, smiling broadly. “That looks great. Did you catch up on sleep a little?”

Jinyoung nods and he steals a quick kiss before taking a seat at the table. Mark joins him.

They eat dinner in silence. The elder is glad that he can spend time with Jinyoung again. He’s missed the actor a lot since he got called away by his manager. Mark feels content being able to watch the younger eat. Jinyoung sends the occasional smile his way and it makes Mark’s heart beat a little faster. Jinyoung’s smile is one of the most beautiful things he’s ever seen.

“I have to go to practice again tomorrow. I’ll have to get up early, so if you don’t want to wake at 6 am, maybe you should head home tonight?” Jinyoung mutters.

Mark is relatively sure that Jinyoung wants him to stay. So he says: “Is it practice for the musical?”

The younger nods, “Yeah, it is.”

“I can drive you there, if you’d like. I still wanted to discuss some choreography points with JB.”

A frown creases Jinyoung’s forehead when Mark says that. “You know about Jaebum-hyung’s work for the musical?”

“He told me a while back. I’ve been helping with the choreography.” Mark explains.

“Oh.” The actor looks down to his bowl, stirring the noodles with his chopsticks to give him an excuse not to look at Mark.

“I’m sorry, should I have told you?” Mark can’t help but feel like he did something wrong. They’ve never been in a fight before and Mark doesn’t know why he feels that Jinyoung isn’t happy with him, but he does.

“It’s not that, it’s just... I didn’t know.” Jinyoung shrugs a little. “Jaebum-hyung didn’t tell me that you were helping. And I understand that you couldn’t tell me, because this is the first time we’ve been together in two months, but why didn’t he tell me? He knows we’re together, right?”

Mark leans in and takes Jinyoung’s hand into his own. “Jaebum’s been really busy too. I think he just forgot. It’s not like I choreographed a lot. I just helped him out when he didn’t know what to do.”

“Sorry.” Jinyoung says, his face contorting a little. “I’ve just missed you so much, and the past few days have been so hard...” 

Mark sees tears appear in Jinyoung’s eyes. So he ditches his dinner to pull a chair up next to Jinyoung. He wraps his arms around him tightly and presses his lips to Jinyoung’s black hair. “I know.” Mark says, even though he doesn’t. Not really.

“I’ve been working non-stop and my manager is a little angry with me still. And the rumours about us haven’t died down yet. I’m just so tired, hyung. I’m so fucking tired.” Jinyoung sobs.

“I know, I’m so sorry.” He whispers, threading his fingers through Jinyoung’s hair and keeping the younger pressed close against him. “You’re going to be okay. We’ll go to bed early tonight and you’ll be fine. I love you, okay? I don’t care about the rumours, let them talk about us. We’re fine. You’re going to be fine.”

He lets Jinyoung cry against his shoulder, because it’s obviously mostly his sleepiness that’s making him so emotional. Mark doesn’t mind. He’d do anything to make Jinyoung feel better, and if crying and clenching onto him helps, then he’ll gladly keep Jinyoung in his arms.

It takes a while for the younger to calm down, but eventually he does. Mark rubs his fingers over Jinyoung’s face, carefully wiping away the tears. “I love you.” Mark tells him again.

He can’t describe the relief he feels when he gets a small smile from Jinyoung. “I love you too, hyung.”

Jinyoung is the one to close the distance between them and press their lips together in a soft, salty kiss. Mark smiles when their lips part again and he pecks Jinyoung’s lips quickly before pulling him into a hug again.

“Do you-- Should we maybe come out together, officially? I mean... we can’t really deny that we’re together and we might as well just shout it from the rooftops.” Mark suggests. His voice is quieter than before, because he’s not sure how good of an idea this is. Honestly, this could have horrible consequences for both of them. But probably mostly for Jinyoung and his career. Maybe he won’t want to confirm their relationship to his fans. Maybe he’ll want to keep it a secret.

“That sounds good, hyung.” Jinyoung tells him with a smile. “I’ll call my friend, he’ll get us on his show and then we can tell our story there.”

Mark nods, feeling relieved that Jinyoung agreed.

“I do think we should do it when the musical is finished. I don’t want to hijack their publicity by coming out with you.” The actor explains and even though Mark’s nervous about going on TV and officially revealing the extent of his relationship to Jinyoung, he would’ve preferred to get it over with.

Still, Jinyoung’s suggestion and worries are logical and Mark can’t get himself to disagree. “Yeah, that’s alright.”

With the smile Jinyoung sends him, Mark doesn’t mind his decision to agree. They’ll postpone it and when they finally reveal their relationship, they’ll at least have each other.

They finish eating dinner and spend the remainder of their evening cuddled up on the sofa. They have popcorn and a movie and things are great. They end up cuddling in bed too and both of them fall asleep pretty quickly.

It’s 5:30 am when Jinyoung’s alarm clock calls for them to wake. Mark buries his face in his pillow and groans. He hears Jinyoung chuckle, he feels a pat on his back and notices the warmth next to him pull away.

“Where are you going?” He asks into his pillow.

Jinyoung laughs, “I need a shower, hyung. I’ll be back soon.”

Mark hums, turns around to curl up under the blanket a little better and drifts back off to sleep.

It’s two hours later that Mark pulls up in front of the theatre. Jinyoung gets out of the car and Mark follows. The younger reaches out to him and they curls their fingers together. They head inside, through the maze of hallways and rooms until they reach the area backstage.

Jinyoung kisses him before heading off to his friends (One of them is Bambam, who Mark has met at the coffee shop before. And he’s pretty sure the other one’s called Yugyeom). Luckily, Mark spots JB and so he walks over to him.

“Ah, Mark! What are you doing here?” Jaebum smiles at him and he smiles back.

“I gave Jinyoung a ride. I actually wanted to discuss some things with you about the choreography. Do you have time?” Mark surprises himself with the length of his explanation.

“Shoot.” JB tells him.

And so Mark explains (but mostly demonstrates) the slight alterations he thought of.

Obviously, since Jaebum’s the choreographer, he’s free to either take Mark’s advice or disregard it. So while he likes some of Mark’s suggestions, he also explains why he won’t use a couple of them. Once they’ve tweaked the choreography together, Mark goes to look for Jinyoung again.

“Hyung, a dancer couldn’t make it. You know the choreography, right?” Jinyoung asks him as soon as they see each other.

“Yeah, I guess I do. Why?” Mark can already see the next question coming, and he’s not sure if he likes it.

“Could you take his place, just for today? We’ll do the performance twice and then you can go home. There’s no one watching but Jaebum-hyung.” Jinyoung rambles quickly, as if he also knows that Mark doesn’t want to do this. “Please, hyung? We don’t have anyone else...”

“Fine.” He sighs, because Jinyoung really does seem worried about whether their practice can go on, and it’s not like Jaebum would laugh at him if he messed up.

“You’re the best!” The actor exclaims, wrapping his arms around Mark and peppering his face with kisses.

Mark can’t help but laugh at the sudden affection from Jinyoung. “Yeah, yeah. It’s alright. Get off me, we have to practice, not kiss.”

Jinyoung laughs and drags him further backstage to get him the costume Bambam made. Since the musical will be held soon, every practice is treated like it’s the actual show.

“Hyung, this is Wonpil. He’s our stage director. He’ll help you out with when you need to go on stage and everything.” Jinyoung informs him quickly.

The younger rushes off and leaves Mark in the company of a complete stranger. And with a rising stress level.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you think of this update! I love to hear your thoughts! <3


	14. Never Let Go

By the end of practice, Mark allows himself to collapse to the floor. He hasn’t danced this much since his time in America. He feels a strange sense of satisfaction for actually doing this.

As he’s lying there, splayed out on stage, he thinks he actually kind of missed this. He missed the ache in his muscles, having to constantly regulate his breathing and he missed the feeling that they’re in this together. It’s not just Jinyoung’s show, or Jaebum’s show, or Yugyeom’s or Bambam’s. No, they all have something to add, they all worked together, along with the other actors and dancers, to make something great. And Mark loves that he could be part of this, even if it’s just once more.

“Hyung, are you okay?” Jinyoung sounds a little worried and when Mark peeks one eye open, he sees the man standing next to him.

Mark grins. “Yeah.” He says, knowing that he’s still a little out of breath, “I’m fine. Do you wanna head home?”

Jinyoung smiles back at him. “Home?”

“Ah, um... your place?” Mark blushes.

It makes Jinyoung chuckle and the younger reaches out to him and pulls him onto his feet again. “Yeah, let’s go home. We both need a shower.”

After they change into their own clothing, they walk to the car. Jinyoung looks over to Mark and squeezes his hand: “Hyung, you did really well today.”

“You did too. I really love your voice.” Mark answers without thinking. The second he realizes what he’s said, he blushes again.

Jinyoung chuckles, even though he has a blush on his cheeks too. “Thank you.”

***

Mark stays with Jinyoung one more night before he has to go home. He went back to work a few weeks after the gossip article was released and he has work to do again now.

The actor is busy as well. He spends all his days training for the musical, especially since he finished filming the drama.

They call as much as they can, and when they can’t call, they text each other. Being apart for so long doesn’t really do their relationship much good. Mark thinks Jinyoung might be tiring himself too much. At the end of the day, his messages are short and sometimes he feels like Jinyoung doesn’t even want to talk to him. Still, he’s happy whenever they manage to see each other briefly. The only time that that happens though, is when Mark goes to watch them practice for the musical.

He’s actually stepped in more than once by now when a dancer isn’t able to make it. Mark doesn’t mind helping out. He loves to dance, and so long as it’s just practice, he doesn’t experience too much anxiety.

The stage director, Wonpil, has taken a liking to him as well, since he keeps saving the day by showing up unannounced and ensuring that they’re not a dancer short.

Sometimes he finds himself wondering if he should pursue a dancing career again. Or at least something that’s a little bit more in the spotlights than his job at the coffee shop is. Like now, while he’s wiping the table and getting things ready for when one of his colleagues comes to work.

He’s so lost in thought that he doesn’t realize someone just entered the shop. It’s only when that person clears their throat, that Mark suddenly wakes from his daydreams.

“Sorry! I was just—” Mark starts, but the man is already smiling at him, his eyes crinkling at the corners. It’s Jinyoung.

The actor is wearing blue jeans and a grey sweater with white stripes. He’s already taken off the black hat he was wearing and his sunglasses are folded around the collar of his shirt. He threads his fingers through his hair and it takes Mark’s breath away. “Don’t worry about it, hyung. I’m not in a hurry.” He says.

“Um, uh...” Mark stammers, needing a good few seconds to gather himself after Jinyoung caught him off guard. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Ah, yes please.” The younger smiles a bright smile and Mark’s legs feel like jelly as he makes his way to the counter.

“The usual?” He asks, “Iced Americano?”

Jinyoung nods and leans against the counter to watch him work.

It takes everything in Mark’s power to not get distracted by Jinyoung, whose eyes are fixed on him. He really doesn’t want to fuck up the guy’s drink now.

A sigh of relief escapes him when he finishes making the simple beverage and he hands it to Jinyoung.

“Thanks, hyung. There you go.” Jinyoung pays and Mark gives him his change.

It’s quiet between them for a while, with Mark mostly looking around the counter and just cleaning it a little more while Jinyoung watches him and sips from his drink.

“Ah, um... Are you going abroad again?” Mark asks quietly.

The younger shakes his head, “I just came back. I promised to have dinner with Jackson and I figured I could fly back and forth.”

“Oh.” He says. He didn’t know Jinyoung had left Korea.

“It was just for three days.” Jinyoung shrugs.

“My shift is almost over. Do you want to go home together?” Mark asks, after he pointedly decides not to get upset over the lack of updates about Jinyoung’s travel schedule.

“Home?” Jinyoung questions with a smile.

“Ah...” Mark blushes, “Your place?”

“Sounds good. I have practice again tomorrow though, will you join me?”

The American nods. He’d been planning to make a surprise visit again anyway.

“Great. I’ll wait here until you’re off work.” Jinyoung tells him and the younger takes a seat at a nearby table.

He feels Jinyoung’s eyes on him as he continues to work. However hard Mark tries not to let it distract him, he doesn’t really succeed. Which is why he’s more than happy when Brian finally shows up to take over.

It’s only when they’re safely in the car that Mark allows himself to show how much he’s missed Jinyoung. They hug and Jinyoung presses soft kisses to his face.

Ten minutes later, Mark finally starts to drive them to Jinyoung’s apartment. The younger rests his hand on Mark’s lap, because they clearly haven’t seen each other enough these past few months and they need all the skinship they can get.

The next morning arrives a little early of you were to ask Mark. He is still asleep, cuddled up under the covers with Jinyoung, when the alarm goes off.

While Mark makes them breakfast, Jinyoung packs their bags with spare clothes and other necessities.

Mark hears Jinyoung’s phone ring and the younger saunters into the living room as he answers. He listens for a while to the panicked voice on the other end of the line. Mark thinks he recognises Wonpil’s voice, but he’s not entirely sure if he’s heard right.

“I understand, yeah.” Jinyoung says, and he can’t help but wonder what this call is about. Mark sees Jinyoung’s face scrunch up as if he’s heard something bad. Their eyes meet and Mark doesn’t know what Wonpil is saying, but he can tell that Jinyoung doesn’t like it.

“What’s wrong?” He asks softly, because he wants to help if he can.

“No, I’m not going to ask him.” Jinyoung says firmly, raising a finger to Mark so that he knows he has to wait for an answer. “No! I don’t want him to. Don’t you dare ask him yourself.”

Mark watches as Jinyoung grits his teeth together in anger. The younger takes a deep breath in an attempt to collect himself. “I’m telling you that this isn’t the solution. Find someone else. I understand that this puts you in a tough position and I’m sorry about that, but it’s a no and that’s final.”

When Jinyoung hangs up, Mark looks at him expectantly. “What’s up? Was that Wonpil?”

The younger nods and smiles to Mark as brightly as he can manage. “You don’t have to worry about it. We’ll figure it out. Maybe you should stay home today, though? I’m sure you’re tired from working last night.”

“I’m fine. I want to come. Especially since the premiere is tonight. You may need me around to help you into your costume.” Mark smiles, but from Jinyoung’s response, he can tell that the actor isn’t that excited. “Are you nervous?”

The younger nods a little. “Yeah, I mean... It’s a lot, you know?”

Mark smiles lovingly and he cups Jinyoung’s face in his hands. “Which is why I want to be there to support you.” He leans in to kiss the younger on his lips, allowing himself to linger a little before pulling away.

“I love you so much.” Jinyoung whispers.

A bright smiles crosses Mark’s lips. “I love you too, Jinyoungie.”

The younger scowls at that and Mark laughs.

“Breakfast is ready, but since we’re late, you can eat in the car.” Mark tells him. He packs up their food and catches the coat that Jinyoung throws in his direction. They’ve gotten a lot better at efficient time management in the mornings.

They arrive at the venue about forty minutes later. Perfectly in time. Jinyoung has eaten the food Mark prepared and Mark takes his lunchbox along so that he can eat while Jinyoung stretches and the preparations for the dress rehearsal start.

Before Mark can settle down on the floor and have breakfast, Wonpil waves him over. Jinyoung has already left to get changed and he can’t imagine what Wonpil needs him for. Surely all the dancers made it to the dress rehearsal, right? The premiere is tonight, they have to be here.

“Hyung, I need a favour.” Wonpil says. He seems a little panicked.

Mark frowns. “What’s wrong?”

“One of the dancers called in this morning...” Wonpil starts and Mark can already see the question coming. Was this what he called Jinyoung for this morning? Was this why Jinyoung hadn’t wanted him to come along to practice after all? “We need someone to take their place.”

He can barely breathe, let alone listen to what Wonpil has to say. He wants to get out of here. He can’t do this. Helping out with practice is one thing, but the actual show?

“Hyung?” Wonpil says, reaching out to put his hand on Mark’s shoulder. “Please, we need your help...”

Mark does the only thing he can think of doing. He turns around and runs. Now, Mark doesn’t want to leave the building, because Jinyoung is here, and Jinyoung is important to him, but that doesn’t mean he can’t run up all of the stairs.

That’s how he ends up on the roof. The door closes behind him and he leans against it, trying to breathe. He has to breathe. His chest feels constricted and he’s shaking. This is what Jinyoung was trying to protect him from. He’d told Wonpil no. He’d avoided the real reason why Mark wouldn’t want to do this and instead told Wonpil that _he_ was the one who didn’t want Mark to do it.

Oh, what a good person Jinyoung is. And what a piece of shit he is himself, for not even giving Wonpil a sufficient answer.

Mark buries his face in his hands and tries to calm down. The dance routines will have to change slightly if they’re one dancer short. Mistakes will be made, all the long practices that drained Jinyoung of his energy would have been for nothing. He knows Jinyoung, the guy wants this show to be perfect. The way he wants everything he does to be. So Mark could help Jinyoung by dancing. He’s done it often enough, he knows the routine. He could do it. He’s the most qualified to, except that he can’t breathe. And you need to be able to breathe in order to dance.

He has no idea how long he sits there before the door opens slowly. Someone enters, but Mark has finally gotten his breathing under control a little and he doesn’t want to fuck it up, so he doesn’t look to see if it’s Wonpil or someone else.

Jinyoung kneels down in front of him, carefully cupping his face. Mark is sweaty, his cheeks are wet with tears. He still hasn’t decided whether to do this or not. He hasn’t been able to decide.

“I’m so sorry.” The younger whispers, rubbing his thumb over Mark’s clammy skin. “I told him not to ask you, but...” He trails off.

Mark nods.

“You don’t have to do it. He’ll figure something out. I know this is too much to ask of you, so I’m not going to. Hyung, you don’t have to do it, okay? Forget Wonpil, forget what he asked, forget about the fucking show. I don’t care about any of that.” Jinyoung presses their foreheads together and Mark closes his eyes.

“I’ll do it.” He tells Jinyoung, his voice raw from the emotions he’s trying to control.

“No, hyung. I’m saying you don’t have to. Wonpil and I, we’ll find someone else.”

Mark interrupts him: “I’ll dance. I’ll do the rehearsal and the premiere and however many other shows I’ll need to do.” He pauses, before speaking up with a little more certainty than before: “I’ll do it.”

“Why?” Jinyoung whispers.

“Because...” He doesn’t know why exactly. Mark thinks about it for a while, trying to find something that would convince Jinyoung not to stop him from doing this. He’s made his decision. “Because I’ve been scared long enough.”

***

It’s four months later that Mark dances in the final show of the musical. In the end, he’s glad that he did this. He had to quit his job at the coffee shop to be on stage with Jinyoung, but it was worth it. Their relationship has only gotten better with time. During the long days of preparation of the show and performing it, they’ve gotten a lot of opportunities to get to know each other even more.

A week after their final performance, Mark and Jinyoung are chatting with Jackson in preparation of their interview on his show. Mark has met Jackson a few times already.

“He takes some getting used to, but he’s a really good friend.” Jinyoung had told him. 

When Mark met Jackson, he understood what Jinyoung meant: the guy is loud and unashamed and _incredibly_ friendly. At first Mark didn’t know if that was a good thing, but now he’s sure that it is.

Mark jerks out of his thoughts when he feels Jinyoung squeeze his hand.

“Hyung, are you okay?” The younger asks him softly.

He nods, “Yeah.”

“Of course he’s okay!” Jackson exclaims with a broad smile. “We’re here, we’re queer!” He laughs, “And I’m going to take good care of you guys, so no need to worry. Just be your wonderful selves and all will be well!”

Mark smiles to Jinyoung, who rolls his eyes at Jackson’s shouting. “No need to worry.” The American repeats to Jinyoung and the younger nods.

During the interview, Mark realizes that he’s talking a lot more than usual. Jinyoung and Jackson talk a lot too, but Mark is surprised with himself. He expected that he’d be quieter than this.

“So how did you two meet?” Jackson asks, since it’s one of their predetermined questions. Mark looks at Jinyoung with a smile, allowing the younger to answer.

“Well, after a particular long day of work abroad, I returned and went to get a cup of coffee at the coffee shop Mark worked at.” The actor explains and Mark allows himself to think back to the time that their relationship consisted of awkward flirting and lingering stares. “Now, my friend Bambam already told me that he thought Mark had an eye on me, but I don’t think he knew that I liked Mark a lot too.”

“This sounds like the stuff from movies.” Jackson laughs and they laugh along.

“Yeah, it’s been surreal, but I’m really happy to have met Jinyoung and to get to know him.” Mark replies.

“What about that kiss though?” The blond prompts, “It went viral within seconds, was that a mistake?”

Jinyoung smiles and shakes his head. “No, or… well, I wish that we hadn’t been photographed and I wish it hadn’t been posted online, but I definitely meant to kiss Mark-hyung.”

“And you, Mark?”

“I—” He swallows thickly and feels Jinyoung rest his hand on his knee. Mark takes a deep breath and tries again, “I was surprised by the article, I hadn’t thought about Jinyoung’s fame a lot before that. It definitely made me think about where I wanted to go with this relationship.” He looks over to Jinyoung, “And I realized I wanted to stay with Jinyoung and love him forever.”

“Hyung…” The younger breathes out. The shock on Jinyoung’s face is real and it makes Mark laugh a little.

“I love you, Jinyoung-ah.”

Jinyoung’s surprise makes place for happiness and a bright smile crosses the guy’s lips. “I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please look forward to a second update this weekend! I expect to finish this fic before Monday arrives :)


	15. Home Run

“Hyung! Hyung, look at this!” Jinyoung calls and Mark walks over to where his boyfriend is curled up on his sofa with a tablet in his hands.

“What is it?” He asks, leaning over to check out the content on the screen.

“Reactions to our interview on Jackson’s show. They love you!” Jinyoung points at a couple of comments. Some of the commenters say that they recognized him when he was a background dancer in the musical. Some say that he’s very handsome or that he and Jinyoung are a really cute couple. Despite the large amount of positive comments, there are some negative ones too. People who think two guys shouldn’t be together, people who think Mark isn’t good enough for Jinyoung and people who want Jinyoung all to themselves and therefore want Mark gone.

He tries not to let it get to him, and there are plenty of good responses to make up for the bad ones, but it’s kind of hard not to take the bad comments personally.

“People really liked you and Jackson together too.” Jinyoung drags him out of his thoughts and Mark checks out one of the comments the actor is talking about.

**[Omg! Jackson-oppa and Mark-oppa are so fun together! Get Mark-oppa on the show more please!]**

Mark laughs a little at that. “I suppose I can’t live my life anonymously anymore.”

“Nope.” Jinyoung replies, drawing him in for a short kiss before saying, “You’re stuck with me.”

“Good.” He grins to Jinyoung and kisses him again.

The positive response to Mark’s appearance on Jackson’s show gets him invited there a few times. He mostly talks about dance and performance when he’s there. Mark finds that he kind of enjoys being on the talk show. It’s helpful too, because he’s slowly running out of money. He’s still happy that he quit his job at the coffee shop, but that doesn’t mean he likes being broke. He needs a new job, and fast, but he has no idea what he would like to do.

Mark realized, through dancing in the musical, that it causes him way too much stress to perform like that. So performing is out of the question.

“Did you know that Jaebum-hyung’s flatmate moved out?” Jinyoung asks him when Mark returns to Jinyoung’s apartment after he did another guest appearance on the Jackson show.

“Yeah, Youngjae talked about how he might want to move into JB’s place.” Mark nods, dropping his coat on the chair before flopping down on the sofa, next to Jinyoung. Mark shifts on the couch to make himself more comfortable and he rests his head on the younger’s lap. He closes his eyes when he feels Jinyoung thread his fingers through his hair.

“Do you want to move in here?” The younger asks and Mark’s eyes fly open.

“W- what?”

Jinyoung blushes, “Well, you’re here most of the time anyway and I know you can’t afford to pay for your apartment on your own. So if you move in with me, Youngjae can move in with Jaebum-hyung.”

“Oh.” Mark says, trying to process this information.

“You don’t have to, of course...” The actor mumbles quickly. “But I’d like to have you here, especially since I have new projects coming up and I don’t want to have to miss you for months before we can see each other again.”

Mark smiles, “I’d like to move in here, but... what about Coco? Jaebum has Nora and I don’t know if Youngjae can take Coco with him...”

“Coco can live with us, right?”

“If Youngjae doesn’t mind...” Mark mumbles thoughtfully. They bought the dog together, after all, he can’t just take Coco without discussing it with Youngjae.

“Of course.” Jinyoung agrees, smiling brightly. “Just talk it over with Youngjae and then we’ll see what happens.”

And that’s how, two weeks later, Mark is packing his belongings into boxes so that they can be moved to Jinyoung’s place. He’s called it home often enough for it to not be as nerve-wracking as he would’ve expected it to be.

Jinyoung is walking Coco so that she won’t have a torturous ride to Jinyoung’s apartment. Youngjae has already taken his stuff to Jaebum’s place. So once Mark has finished packing, the apartment is as good as empty.

He stares at the empty walls of the living room and he looks around his kitchen, he peeks into the bathroom once before ending up on the small balcony, looking out over the part of Seoul he knows best. Jinyoung enters and gives Coco some water before he joins Mark on the balcony. He wraps his arms around Mark’s shoulders from behind and leans on him.

“Hyung, are you sad that you’re leaving this place?” The younger asks.

Mark nods.

“Was this your first apartment in Korea?”

He nods again, not trusting his voice.

“We could move in here instead, if you’d prefer?” Jinyoung suggests.

Mark shakes his head. “No,” His voice breaks and he closes his eyes tightly. He couldn’t even say one word without sounding like a wreck.

“Do you want to be alone?”

He shakes his head once more.

“Alright.” Jinyoung tightens his grip on Mark and presses a kiss to his jaw. “I love you, hyung.”

“I love—” Mark is cut off by the ringing of his phone. Jinyoung pulls back to let Mark answer. The younger watches as he accepts the call.

“Hello?” Mark says, unable to ban all of the emotions he’s feeling from his voice.

“Mark? Hello, we’re from Arirang television. We would like to offer you a job.”

Mark frowns, “A job?”

“Yes, you’ve made several guest appearances on the Jackson show and our fans have been requesting for you to become a permanent host. We’re hoping to work something out with you, so that you and Jackson can host the show together.”

“Host the Jackson show, together?” He repeats incredulously.

“Well, of course we would change the name. We’d like to hold a poll to let our fans decide on the new name of the show. You and Jackson will be hosting the show on a weekly basis and we might want to utilize your multilingual skills for other events and programs as well. Could you come in tomorrow to discuss this with us?”

“I— Yeah, of course. Yes. This is awesome, thank you.” Mark stammers awkwardly and he hears the woman laugh at him softly.

“Would 2 pm work?” She asks.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Mark hangs up and proceeds to stare at Jinyoung in awe.

“You got offered a job, to host the Jackson show?” Jinyoung asks, because he’s too curious not to listen in.

Mark nods, “They’ll change the name.”

“Oh my god. Hyung, that’s awesome!” The younger smiles his beautiful, bright smile before enveloping Mark in a hug. The American just leans against him, hugging him back softly.

“Is this real?” He asks quietly, because it’s kind of hard to process that it is.

“Yeah, it’s real! You’re going to be a permanent MC!” Jinyoung laughs and presses an excited kiss on his lips. “We’ll celebrate tonight, in our new home.”

That evening, they are cuddling on the sofa, Mark’s boxes still mostly packed because they didn’t feel like unpacking yet. Besides, Mark likes Jinyoung’s place just fine as it is, he doesn’t need to add his stuff to make it feel more like home.

Although maybe the fact that Coco is lying next to him on the couch makes it a little more real for him. This is his new home. He lives with Jinyoung now. And he’s going to be a talk show host with Jackson and— It’s only then that Mark realizes he never would’ve gotten here if he hadn’t met Jinyoung.

Life works in funny ways.

***

“Are you sure I’ll do okay?” Mark asks while his make-up is being applied. He’s about to host the show with Jackson for the first time and Mark is absolutely terrified that he’ll fuck up.

“Of course.” Jinyoung says, smiling while his hand is being crushed by Mark, who’s clenching onto him tightly.

“What if I suck?” He says, because that’s a real concern of his.

“You won’t. And Jackson will help you anyway, so you’ll be fine. Just be yourself, okay?” The younger assures him.

Mark nods, but he doesn’t really believe that he will be okay, especially not if he’s being himself. Isn’t he too quiet to be a permanent MC for such a big show?

Before he goes into the studio, he kisses Jinyoung goodbye. The younger has to go do his own job, instead of watching him do his. Jinyoung has been casted to play the male lead in a movie and the actor’s really excited about it. Mark can’t wait for the movie to be finished, so he can adore the beauty of his boyfriend both on screen and off.

When Mark returns home that evening, he nearly gets a heart attack when he’s greeted with cheers upon opening the door. Jinyoung’s apartment is decorated with balloons and colourful flags hanging from one side to the room to the other. There’s a large sign which reads: ‘Congratulations on the first episode of the Markson show!’

The group of people gathered are the people Mark and Jinyoung are closest to: Youngjae, Jaebum, Bambam, Yugyeom… and Mark is surprised to find that Jackson arrived at his place earlier than he did. They left at about the same time. 

He gets hugged and he laughs his high-pitched laughter, because this is totally unexpected and he doesn’t really know how else to respond.

Once everyone has greeted him, Jinyoung speaks up: “We also have a few special guests…”

Mark frowns, until he sees his parents and siblings coming out of the other room. 

“Oh my god.” He whispers, before surging forward and embracing his family. Tears are stinging in his eyes. He hasn’t seen them for so long, he’s missed them, but he didn’t have the time (or money) to fly to America to go see them and Mark didn’t want to inconvenience them and ask them to visit him here.

After the group hug ends, Mark greets each of them individually, hugging them tightly and asking them how they’ve been. 

He turns to Jinyoung: “How the hell did you contact them?”

“You leave your phone unlocked too often. So when you went to have a shower once, I quickly saved your mom’s phone number in my phone so I could call them if I ever wanted to plan a surprise visit with them. Now seemed like as good a time as any to invite them over.” Jinyoung smiles.

Mark sniffs. He wipes at his eyes angrily, because _damn it_ , he’s still crying. His friends are watching the emotional scene with a smile, not realizing how embarrassed Mark feels. It’s not like they would ever make fun of him for crying when he sees his family again after a good few years of living in Korea.

Jinyoung steps forward to embrace him. He allows Mark to hide his face in his chest and the American keeps a tight hold of the younger, unwilling to show his tear-streaked face to their friends again.

Once Mark has gotten himself together, they all take a seat on the floor. There’s loads of food gathered there, so the _real_ feast can _finally_ begin (or so Jackson says). Tammy has taken a seat next to Mark and while he’s starting to eat, she leans over to him with a smile. 

“You found a good one there, little brother.”

Mark smiles back to her. He swallows a bite of food before saying: “I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, okay. So this was the last chapter, guys. That's it for this story. I hope you liked it!
> 
> I actually almost didn't want to upload this chapter, because half of my heart just doesn't want this story to end. There is still so much that could happen after this ending, that I'm tempted to keep going. Then again, I also have a lot of other ideas for stories that I want to write and for me to get started on those, this one needs to be finished.
> 
> I hope to see you guys again when the first chapter of my new fic is posted. Thank you so much for reading my story and supporting me with your wonderful comments and by leaving kudos. I'm so happy that I decided to write this fic and that it's been received so well by you guys.
> 
> Okay. I'll just upload this now... 
> 
> Oh and you can always contact me at jji-nyeong.tumblr.com if you have questions or comments or just wanna chat with me!
> 
> Now I'm seriously going to upload it. I promise. (See? I uploaded it)


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